Four criteria for oil bidders

Petroleum Administration will announce prequalified firms in two months

Oil and gas companies interested in participating in the first licensing round for oil and gas drilling rights should meet the criteriain four areas: legal, financial, technical, and quality and safety.

The prequalification round for companies was launched on February 15. The closing date for applications is end-March. The Petroleum Administration will take 21 days to study the prequalification documents.

Under the financial criteria, a company seeking to apply for the bid as an 'operator', a firm that leads a consortium, should have total assets of $10 billion or more. Companies participating in the bid as right holders should have total assets equivalent to at least $500 million. All applicants should submit a copy of their audited consolidated financial statements. Present and past credit ratings from Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s, or Fitch, should be submitted as well. All members of a consortium should file a description of their material lines of credit, credit agreements, publicly traded debt securities, off-balance sheet liabilities, and guarantees of third-party obligations.

As part of the legal criteria, companies should declare the names and nationalities of incorporation, and the address of any partner or shareholder who, directly or indirectly, holds 20 percent or more of the voting shares.

The technical criteria require that companies seeking pre-qualification as operators should already have operated at least one offshore petroleum development at a depth of 500 meters. Other right holders should have participated in petroleum production activities. The operator should also have experience in drilling more than 500 million cubic feet of gas per day.

The consortium members should present a copy of the Quality, Health, Safety and Environment Management Systems (QHSEMS). A copy of Corporate Social Responsibility reports and experience in environmentally sensitive areas are also required.

Companies should present a report of any incidents that occurred during their operations in the previous three years, including oil spills, site injuries and fatalities, major fires and explosions, mechanical/structural failures, emissions and waste, and main remedial efforts.