East Timor extends oil and gas licensing round a second time

East Timor has extended the deadline for its onshore and offshore oil and gas licensing round for a second time in an effort to capture interest from international and national oil companies.

The country’s resources regulator, Autoridade Nacional do Petroleo e Minerais (ANPM), said the deadline for submission of bids has moved to Mar. 4, 2022, from Oct. 1, 2021.

The round, which offers a total of 18 blocks for public tender for production sharing contracts (seven onshore and 11 offshore in the Timor Sea), was originally launched Oct. 19, 2019, with a deadline for submissions on Oct. 9, 2020. The deadline was then extended to Oct. 1, 2021.

ANPM said the global COVID-19 pandemic has interfered with its plans to promote the licencing round during the last 2 years. The extension will provide more time for interested parties to carry out internal studies and technical assessments prior to the submission of bids, it said.

The new timetable also provides extra time for submission of pre-qualification documents. This is now due on or before Jan. 14, 2022. The round will be open for bid submissions for 2 months from Jan. 24, 2022.

This is East Timor’s second licencing round. The first was held in 2005-2006. The subsequent round was delayed due to the territorial dispute with Australia in the Timor Sea which was resolved in August 2019.

Terms of the second round do not require a signature bonus and general terms call for full cost recovery, 5% royalty, 60-40 profit split in favor of operators, and 30% income tax.