November 14 (SeeNews) - The government of Bosnia's Federation will open a tender for awarding a concession contract for oil and gas exploration and production in the Pannonian basin and the Dinarides in the next 15days, the entity's energy minister Nermin Dzindic said.
The Federation government has decided to launch preparatory activities for awarding the concession, which clears the way for opening the tender, Dzindic said in a statement on Wednesday.
Once the tender is opened, all interested parties will have six months to submit bids. Dzindic also said that the Federation will offer investors to search for hydrocarbon deposits in three blocks in the Pannonian basin (BiHPo1, BiHPo2 and BiHTz) and one block in the area of the Dinaric Alps (BiHD1), which spread on an overall area of 5,115 square kilometres.
In February, the Federation government hired London-based IHS Global to provide consultancy services on the project. Last month, IHS Global organised several events promoting the planned tender to interested investors in London, in Bosnia's Sarajevo, as well as at the 7th Balkans Petroleum meeting held in Montenegro's Budva. The Federation government has said that a total of 22 representatives of interested companies have attended the London event.
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.
After Shell's withdrawal, several international companies, including France's Total, Australia's Key Petroleum and UK's Spectrum showed interest in the project, according to earlier media reports.
The Federation is one of two autonomous entities that make up Bosnia and Herzegovina. The other one is the Serb Republic.