“In the oil business, these companies needed three to four months to study and evaluate [the blocks] before deciding to submit or not. We will see which ones actually submit [on Thursday],” NRA Director, Maher Hijazin told The Jordan Times.
The two blocks included the bidding round are the Northern Highlands, a 7,454-square-kilometre region along the country’s northern border with Syria, and Al Jafr block in the central region, a 19,156 square-kilometer plot east of the Jordan River.
During 1959 and 1991, NRA, along with the Pauly and Total S.A, has drilled seven exploration wells in the Northern Highlands block, while Hunt Oil Company has drilled two wells in Al Jafr region in 1989. The companies did not yield productive oil discoveries.
PETREL is presently drilling in the eastern Safawi block and Global Petroleum Limited in the western Safawi block in the northeast of the nation, Sonoran in the Azraq block, Universal Energy Corp. in the Sirhan block to the southeast, and the Dead Sea block, presently being explored by Porosity Ltd.
