China's Ministry of Land and Resources on Thursday invited tenders for its second shale gas bid round.
It said on its website that domestic companies in China with registered capital of at least Yuan 300 million ($47.5 million) and in good financial standing are eligible to bid for blocks. Bidders should also have oil, gas, or minerals exploration experience. All applications have to be submitted before May 25 to the ministry.
It did not say when the actual tender process would be conducted and also made no reference to participation by foreign companies.
The inaugural round was held in June 2011, with two out of four blocks awarded to local companies -- one to state-owned Sinopec and another to a Henan-based company. The second round was originally planned for end 2011 but has been repeatedly delayed.
In March, the ministry and other government agencies released China's official shale gas development program under the current five-year economic plan running from 2011-15, targeting commercial output of 6.5 Bcm/year (229,450 Mcf/day) by the end of 2015.
Given the lack of midstream infrastructure such as pipelines, little clarity on fiscal terms, and lengthy approvals process for development plans, analysts have called this goal too ambitious.
