FOLLOWING through with a previous commitment to ensure additional oil blocks are publicly auctioned, President Irfaan Ali announced early this morning that 14 blocks will be placed on auction with the hope that these contracts will be awarded by the end of May 2023.

President Ali noted that one of the features which are important with the announced bidding round is that the best possible outcome for Guyana will be derived based on lessons learned from previous experiences.

The President noted that new blocks will be subject to new contracts, but the sanctity of the Stabroek Block contract will be maintained. The new auctioned blocks will be for both shallow and deep water areas.

Dr Ali said there is a timeframe on oil and gas development so it is important to have developers who are serious.

The criteria needed for shallow and deep water exploration will be taken into consideration in the bidding process as different expertise are needed for each.

Turning attention to unfortunate concealing of the ExxonMobil signing bonus by the APNU+AFC government years ago, President Ali disclosed that US$10 million will be the signing bonus for the successful bidders in shallow water exploration, while US$20 million will be the signing bonus for deep water exploration bidders.