* Algeria seeking to draw more investment
* Concerns over security, contract terms
* 31 new fields on offer in latest round
By Hamid Ould Ahmed
ALGIERS, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Algeria launched an energybidding round on Tuesday with 31 fields on offer for companies,as the OPEC member and key European gas supplier tries to wooforeign firms to help it reverse declining output.
Algeria's announcement came a year after an Islamistmilitant attack on its Amenas gas facility killed 40 oil workersand rattled foreign investors already wary over the NorthAfrican state's contract terms.
Ali Betata, head of the ALNAFT, the agency in charge ofhandling bids, told reporters that 17 of the fields on offerwould be in the south, five in the north and the rest located inthe centre of the country.
"We will explain to our partners the elements and incentivesincluded in the bidding," Energy Minister Youcef Yousfi said,when asked about concerns the bidding may not attract foreigninvestors.
Algeria's last round in 2011 awarded only two contracts outof the 10 offers - one to Spain's Cepsa and the other to thecountry's own state energy firm Sonatrach.
The country gets most of its output from mature fields andneeds foreign investment to develop new reserves. But thegovernment said recently it had made some "promising"discoveries among the more than 30 finds last year.
Algeria's new energy law, passed last year, includes tax andother contractual incentives for foreign companies, and benefitsfor unconventional energy resource investments such as shale oiland gas contracts.
Yousfi said as part of new developments, the country'soffshore explorations would start at the end of this year orearly next year.
The minister said the bidding includes perimeters for shaleoil and shale gas.
Algeria has also said it plans to build five oil refineriesto double its production capacity, but has not yet given detailson when construction would begin.
Oil production is around 1.2 million barrels per day - thesame level as 2012 - with energy export earnings $63.5 billionin 2013, down 10 percent from a year ago, officials said.
The January 2013 attack on the Amenas plant by militants whocrossed over from the remote border with southern Libya,heightened concerns over security for energy producers in NorthAfrica.
BP has yet to send foreign contractors back to theAmenas gas plant, though Algerian officials said new securityreinforcements and a landing pad were in place at the desertsite.
"It is not up to me to decide when they will return," theminister said. "It is up to them."