THAILAND DEFERS 14TH BID ROUND

Thailand will postpone its 14th round of bidding for petroleum exploration concessions to early 1994.

The decision follows advice from multinational companies that the government await availability of additional geological data from exploration under way before proceeding with new bid rounds.

In addition, the government will decide soon whether to allow further negotiation of agreements for concessions obtained by four companies in the 13th round of bidding (OGJ, Sept. 23, 1991, p. 12). CTC Minerals Inc. won two onshore blocks in northeastern Thailand. Croft Exploration Co. won four northeastern onshore blocks and one in the Andaman Sea. A combine of Fina Exploration SA and Enterprise Oil plc won two blocks in the Andaman Sea. The ministry had set June 30 as the deadline for the companies to complete the agreements. Meanwhile, Canadian Occidental Petroleum and Coho Resources Ltd. have dropped concessions they won in the last round.

Copyright 1992 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.