BOGOTA, June 4 (Reuters) - Seven companies have put in bidsfor 11 oil exploration contracts in Colombia, the governmentsaid on Tuesday, as the Andean country seeks to revitalize itsoil sector.
Frontera Energy, Geopark, Ecopetrol, Hocol, Parex Resources, Gran Tierra Energyand ONGC Videsh have put in a total of 19offers, the national hydrocarbons agency said. Ten of the blocksare onshore and one is offshore.
At least 22 companies were qualified to bid on 20 blocks onoffer in the auction. Results of the bidding are expected inmid-July.
"For the first time in the history of Colombia an offer ofblocks has obtained 55% success," said agency head Luis MiguelMorelli.
Qualified companies which did not bid will have access tocompetitors' offers and can present alternative ones, Morellisaid.
Other qualified bidders include CNE Oil and Gas,Occidental Petroleum, Hunt Overseas Oil Company,Amerisur Exploracion, Mansarovar Energy and NobleEnergy.
State-run Ecopetrol and its subsidiary Hocol put in the bestbids on five of the 11 blocks, Ecopetrol said in a statementlater on Tuesday.
Ecopetrol bid for the offshore GuaOff-10 block, it said,while Hocol placed a bid on the COR-9 block. Hocol also bid onthe LLA 86, 87 and 104 blocks in partnership with Geopark.
"The best offers presented today in Bogota put GrupoEcopetrol in first place for eligibility in this phase of theprocess," the statement said.
Colombia expects to receive some $1.5 billion in oilinvestment over the coming months from this round of bidding aswell as a recently launched permanent bidding process, Morellihas said.
The government hopes the new process and modifiedcontractual terms for offshore exploration will boost itslong-stagnant oil sector. Offshore and onshore explorationground to a halt when global prices slumped.
Companies including Royal Dutch Shell, Noble, Exxon, Repsol and Parex have already signed on tooperate new blocks this year.
The country's crude reserves were up 9.9% last year to 1.96billion barrels, or equivalent to 6.2 years of output. Thegovernment wants to increase reserves to at least 10 yearsequivalent.
Average oil production is 865,000 barrels per day, half ofwhich is exported.
Ecopetrol said last month its crude exports to the UnitedStates rose nearly 25% in the first quarter because of lowersupply from neighboring Venezuela and higher production.(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta and Julia Symmes CobbEditing by Rosalba O'Brien and Phil Berlowitz)