* Noble, Cobalt, Elenilto named as among winners last year
* Total invited to join offshore negotiations (Adds details)
LIBREVILLE, May 14 (Reuters) - Three companies previouslynamed as among the winners in an offshore oil licensing round inGabon have been dropped from the list, the country's oilminister said on Wednesday.
"The offshore requires huge investment and the companiesturned down did not meet those requirements," oil minister Etienne Ngoubou told reporters. The three were Noble Energy Inc, Cobalt International Energy Inc and a companycalled Elenilto.
Gabon awarded 13 oil and gas blocks to 11 companies inOctober 2013 as part of a major deepwater licensing round, whichthe central African country hopes will double its output to500,000 barrels per day.
In a decision which surprised some industry participants atthe time, existing producers Total and Royal DutchShell did not appear on the list.
Ngoubou said Total had been invited for negotiations,without giving any details. "Total has been called in fordiscussions with the body in charge of negotiations," he said.
The other companies awarded blocks in October were OphirEnergy, Eni, ExxonMobil, Marathon, Perenco, Repsol, Petronas andImpact.
The bidding round, which has been delayed for three years,offers a chance for the former OPEC member to reverse a declinein production from a peak of about 370,000 bpd in the 1990s.
Some geologists think offshore west Africa may containdeepwater reserves beneath a layer of salt on the ocean bedcomparable to those found offshore Brazil. (Reporting by Jean Rovys Dabany; Writing by Emma Farge; Editingby David Evans and David Holmes)
