GEORGETOWN, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Guyana received bids from 15
different companies aiming to market the government's share of
the crude produced off the South American country's coast,
according to Guyana's National Procurement and Tender Board
Administration website on Wednesday.
The government re-launched the search last month after a
previous tender was discarded. Bids were due on Aug. 3, and
companies were asked to indicate the commission they would
charge per barrel of crude exported. The board did not indicate
when it would select a partner.
An Exxon Mobil Corp-led consortium has discovered more than
8 billion barrels of oil and gas off Guyana's coast,
transforming the poor country into the world's newest energy
hotspot.
Guyana is entitled to a portion of the oil produced at the
offshore Stabroek block, but needs a partner to market that
share of the crude given that the country lacks a state oil
company or domestic refining capacity.
The companies submitting bids included units of western oil
majors such as Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron Corp,
France's TotalEnergies SE and Norway's Equinor ASA
. Hess Corp, a partner in the consortium that
operates Stabroek block, submitted a bid, while lead partner
Exxon did not.
Other companies submitting bids included commodities trading
houses like Mercuria and Trafigura, as well as units of Saudi
Arabia's Aramco and China's Sinochem.
The proposed commissions ranged from 2 cents per barrel in
the case of Sinochem, to 26 cents per barrel in the case of a
joint bid submitted by the National Gas Company of Trinidad and
Tobago and Trinidad-based Heritage Petroleum Company Limited.
(Reporting by Neil Marks in Georgetown
Writing by Luc Cohen
Editing by Marguerita Choy)
