Albania opens the international competition to attract foreign investors to search for oil in South of the country.
The National Natural Resources Agency has announced a statement of interest for the Block 5, following a briefing by the Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, Damian Gjiknuri."Block 5" includes all the terrain from Vlora to Saranda and the interest by investors should be expressed in in October.
To the winning company will be granted the possibility to explore for oil and gas for a period of five years with the right of the extension for of up to 7 years, as provided for in the Law on Petroleum. If the company discovers oil in the Block 5, acquires the right to use it, under the conditions stipulated in the contract with the Albanian state.
The extraction and production period will be 25 years and can be extended even further. The exploration will not extend to the sea but to the land up to the border with Greece.
Since the change of system in 1991, Albania has been open to foreign companies to develop oil exploration on land and sea. So far, hundreds of millions of euros have been spent, while the latest contract has been for "Bloc 4" in the Dumre area with the Dutch company "Shell", which will invest over 42 million euros for oil exploration.