The bidding round for an exploration licence over offshore block 1-26 Tervel was officially open on 30 March 2020. The announcement, along with the bid round schedule, was published in the Official Journal of the EU. The deadline for purchasing the bidding round documents is at 17:30 on the 28 July 2020 (120 days after the announcement), the documents will cost BGN 10,000. The deadline for submitting an application to take part in the bidding round is at 17:30 on 17 August 2020 (140 days after the announcement), at this time a deposit of BGN 15,000 will be required. The deadline for submitting bids is at 17:30 on 1 September 2020 (155 days after the announcement). The exploration licence will be granted for a period of five years from the date of the contract signature plus two two-year extensions, according to Art. 31 of the amended Underground Resources Act. The applications will be evaluated based on the proposed work programmes and the resources that will be dedicated towards environmental protection and bonuses, which will be further detailed in the bidding round documents that are available for purchase.  The Council of Ministers approved the planned bidding round for the 1-26 Tervel block on 31 July 2019. The bid round was announced on 16 August 2019 in the state gazette. The 1-26 Tervel block will cover the area of the former 1-22 Teres block and is situated in the Black Sea between the 1-21 Han Asparuh (Total) and the 1-14 Han Kubrat (Shell) blocks, adjoining the Turkish maritime boundary. The block has never been drilled. It encompasses 4,021 sq km in a water depth ranging between 1,800 m and 2,500 m.   A first bid round for the 1-22 Teres block opened in December 2012 and closed in May 2013 with no bids received. According to industry sources, interest at the time was shown by Format Energy (US), Lukoil, OMV, RWE-Dea, Shell and TPAO.  A second tender for the 1-22 Teres block was launched in April 2015 and closed in September 2015 also with no bids received. At that time Anadarko had reported its interest to participate in the tender for both the 1-22 Teres and 1-14 Silistar (1-14 Han Kubrat) blocks. ExxonMobil and Statoil were also considering their participation. Industry sources reported in June 2015 that BP was talking to the Bulgarian authorities about its possible interest in the acreage on offer but nothing materialised.
The bidding round for an exploration licence over offshore block 1-26 Tervel was officially open on 30 March 2020. The announcement, along with the bid round schedule, was published in the Official Journal of the EU. 