SARAJEVO (Bosnia and Herzegovina), December 21 (SeeNews) – Bosnia's Federation said it has picked the 1.28 million marka ($747,400/654,500 euro) bid of London-based IHS Global for consultancy services on the issuing of an international public invitation for oil and gas exploration on the entity's territory.
The signing of a contract for the delivery of consultancy services with IHS Global was recommended by the public procurement commission of the Federation government, the government said in a statement on Thursday.
According to estimates of the geology institute of the Federation, the territory of the Dinaric Alps could potentially contain deposits of about 1 billion barrels of oil.
In September 2015, Shell Exploration Company exited an earlier initiative to conduct geological and geophysical research to determine the oil and gas prospects of the Federation. Shell said at the time that following an internal portfolio review and in light of the oil and gas environment, it would not seek to extend its deal with the Federation. The agreement was extended in 2013 and 2014 to enable the parties to potentially negotiate an oil production licence but such negotiations never started and the deal expired.
The Federation is one of two autonomous entities that make up Bosnia and Herzegovina. The other one is the Serb Republic.
(1 euro = 1.95583 marka)