(Adds details on offers, paragraphs 5, 11)
By Marianna Parraga
HOUSTON, March 9 (Reuters) - Colombia plans to award up to15 oil blocks next month and will begin routinely offeringonshore and offshore areas for exploration and production inMay, the head of the country's energy regulator told Reuters.
The move, Colombia's first offering of new areas in fouryears, comes as most of its neighbors also pursue new energyinvestments. This year, amid higher crude prices and an increasein exploration capital, bidding rounds are also set inArgentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico and Uruguay.
The upcoming Colombian awards will be in the Sinu-SanJacinto basin, in the country's northwest, Orlando Velandia,president of the National Hydrocarbons Agency, said in aninterview on the sidelines of the CERAWeek energy conference.
Colombia needs to boost foreign investment to revive itsstagnant crude and gas production. The Andean country plans toonly slightly increase output to 900,000 barrels of oilequivalent per day this year, Velandia said.
Colombia's last oilfield auction in 2014 secured investmentfrom firms including ConocoPhillips and Parex Resourcesfor seven unconventional projects that are about tofinish the exploration stage to later start early production ofshale oil and gas.
"We want to award the maximum possible amount of blocks inthis process ... This pause has been useful for reflecting andgaining experience in a low price environment," Velandia said.
Canada-based Parex Resources and Gran Tierra,Chinese CNOOC's unit Nexen Petroleum, Colombia's Hocol, Repsol'sTalisman Energy, and U.S. Noble Energy qualified for theSinu-San Jacinto auction. They will submit offers in the comingdays, with results expected in early April, Velandia said.
After completing the auction, Colombia expects to beginpermanently offering blocks in a process similar to one Brazilis planning this year. Colombia's offer will include about twodozen onshore and offshore areas that can receive bids at anytime.
The new mechanism was approved last year and it will betested in May.
"Colombia's priority is to develop its offshore(resources)," Velandia said.
Nine permits granted to firms to study areas in theCaribbean Sea also plan to be converted into exploration andproduction contracts, doubling the offshore projects in thatarea, where big discoveries by firms including U.S. AnadarkoPetroleum have been recently made.
State-run company Ecopetrol plans to invest up to$4 billion in 2018, largely in exploration and production.Private firms in the country are expected to invest a further$4.5 billion to $4.9 billion.(Reporting by Marianna Parraga in Houston; additional reportingby Julia Symmes Cobb in BogotaEditing by Tom Brown and David Gregorio)
