KNOC Representative Office said it is planning to use part of its resources to perform 2D seismic data acquisition of 1,200 l-km within boundaries of West-Ferghana and Chinabad investment blocks of Freghana region of Uzbekistan.

Open tender bidding will be conducted in accordance with two-stage procedure and is open to all bidders. The bidders should possess legal capacity to undertake the contract and have licenses and other required permissions and documents required for the contract implementation and to carry out the contractual activities.

The tender applications will be received till 20 December 2010, the tender announcement said.

The oil block exploration project was established during Uzbek President Karimov’s visit to Korea in February this year, under a joint investment structure held by KNOC (65%), POSCO (20%) and Samchully (15%).

The blocks are located offshore in the Northeastern region of Uzbekistan, with total area covering 6,170 km2, approximately 10 times the area of Seoul. Potential reserves buried in the area are expected to reach 8,400 million barrels.

The first phase exploration will span a period of three years, followed by a geophysical exploration and geological assessment in 2011. An exploration drill will be conducted in 2012 to confirm gas/oil reserves.