TIRANA (Albania), October 11 (SeeNews) – Albania’s national agency of natural resources (AKBN) said it is inviting bids for a contract for oil exploration in block 5 in the southwestern part of the country.
All applications must be submitted to AKBN no later than November 7, the agency said in a statement earlier this week.
The duration of the exploration period is up to five years, divided in three phases, and can be extended up to seven years, AKBN added.
In case of a commercial discovery, the period for development and production of the area shall be 25 years and can be further extended, the statement noted.
In February, Albania's ministry of energy and infrastructure signed an oil exploration agreement with Shell Upstream Albania, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, for block 4 in the southern Albanian mountain of Shpirag.
Shell will invest an estimated $42.5 million (37 million euro) over seven years in the search for new oil deposits, the ministry said at the time.
Albania has oil reserves of 220 million barrels and natural gas reserves of 5.7 billion cubic metres. The Patos-Marinza oilfield near the southwestern city of Fier is the largest onshore field in continental Europe.
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