Bidders are allowed to submit up to three proposals for three onshore blocks, the Ministry of Energy said in an announcement in the official English daily, New Light of Myanmar.
Proposals should be submitted by Aug. 3, 2011.
Myanmar has been exploring oil and gas at 49 onshore sites and 26 offshore blocks in Rakhine, Tanintharyi and Mon states after entering joint ventures with foreign companies since 1988.
Myanmar’s crude oil reserves are estimated at 3.2 billion barrels, the energy ministry has said. This compares with China’s proven oil reserves of 14.8 billion barrels, Malaysia’s 5.8 billion, Vietnam’s 4.4 billion and Indonesia’s 4.2 billion barrels, at the end of 2010, according to the BP Statistical Review.
The country’s proven gas reserves tripled in the past decade to around 800 billion cubic meters, equivalent to more than a quarter of Australia’s, BP Statistical Review figures show.
Myanmar’s ruling military junta handed power to a nominally civilian government in March after elections last November that were widely dismissed as a sham. The elections were intended to create the impression of a democratic transition after 49 years of direct army rule.
Neighboring Thailand and China are the biggest investors in Myanmar’s energy sector.
Last October, China’s state energy group CNPC started building a crude oil port in Myanmar, part of a pipeline project aimed at cutting out the long detour oil cargoes take through the congested Malacca Strait.
Companies from Australia, Britain, Canada, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Russia, South Korea and Vietnam have also reached energy deals with the government.
Total foreign direct investment in the oil and gas sector has amounted to $13.5 billion since 1988, official data show.