OMNIS announced that it will officially launch the offshore Bid Round on 7 November during the Africa Oil Week Conference which is taken place between 5 and 9 November in Cape Town (South Africa). The 44 offshore blocks are located in the Morondava Basin for a total of 63,296 sq km. The Bid Round will be open for six months with the closing date being 30 May 2019. Roadshows will be held in London on Tuesday 19 February from and in Huston on Tuesday 26 February 2019. In addition, the OMNIS team will be present at the PROSPEX (12-13 December) and the APPEX (27 February-1 March) meetings, both held in London.   The parliament has not yet approved the new petroleum legislation. However, OMNIS announced that the bid round will use the current petroleum code if the new legislation is not approved in time. The initial draft prepared by OMNIS and the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum was discussed during a two-day workshop in March 2015 by representatives of various governmental departments, the civil society and representatives of oil exploration companies already active in Madagascar.  OMNIS stays open for direct negotiation outside a tendering process for open onshore blocks and offshore blocks outside the blocks to be proposed for the coming biding round.     In view of this bid round, new seismic data has been acquired and treated by TGS/NOPEC (15 000 km) and BGP (13 000 km). Geospec/Robertson has also retreated OMNIS old data and integrating regional setting in order to produce better understanding of the Morondava basin potential. In total, over 55,500 km of 2D seismic data acquired between 1969 and 2013 are available over the offered blocks. Additionally, data over nine wells that were drilled either on or nearby the offered blocks are available: Chesterfield-1, Heloise-1, Morondava-1, Vaucluse-1, Epong-1, Morombe-1, Ankamotra-1, Cap St AndrÃ©-1 and 2.  For more information:  https://madagascarlicensinground2018.com/  http://www.omnis.mg  http://www.tgs.com  http://www.bgp.com.cn  Background information  On 7 March 2011, media reports indicated that the Madagascar government has suspended plans for an offshore bid round. Priority was to be given to the open acreage located in the offshore part of the Morondava Basin. The last tender in the country closed on 8 December 2006. In total, 122 offshore blocks were offered: 75 in the Morondava Basin, 24 in Cap d'Ambre and 23 in the area of Sainte Marie Island.   In late August 2013, it was understood that OMNIS has postponed the launching of the Madagascar international bid round until December 2014 due to the extension of the transition period for the presidential elections. 39 onshore blocks and 264 offshore blocks will be offered during the future bid rounds.
Madagascar, not found