Guyana in talks with Qatar, UK, UAE and India on oil blocks

(Reuters) -Guyana is in talks with Qatar, Britain, the United Arab Emirates and India on the possibility of directly allocating offshore blocks for oil and gas exploration in parallel with a bidding round this year, President Irfaan Ali said on Monday.

South America’s newest crude producer has emerged as the world’s fast-growing oil region with more than 11 billion barrels of oil and gas discovered.

Guyana will receive bids through mid-April from energy firms for its competitive bidding round, which is offering 14 areas encompassing shallow and deepwater areas. Separately, it has held talks with other nations over directly allocating areas.

“We have been toying with a number of options,” Ali said on the sidelines of an energy conference in Trinidad and Tobago.

“We have gone out publicly with the bid round (and) there is also that room we are looking at for government-to-government collaboration.”

Ali visited India earlier this month, where he encouraged companies to participate in the round and engaged in talks with the government for block allocations to state companies and on possible oil supply contracts to the Asian country.