The Chinese government plans to offer five oil and gas exploration licenses in the Tarim basin to nonstate operators, according to China Daily.
The offering will be the third in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region under a program opening exploration and production to private companies.
Xinhua reported in May that the government had held public bidding for five Xinjiang blocks in 2015 and planned to offer 29 more blocks.
At least some of the licenses formerly were held by state-owned oil and gas companies.
In the earlier auction, Shandong Polymer Biochemicals Ltd. won one block, and state-owned Beijing Energy Investment Holdings won three blocks, China Daily reported.
The five blocks newly on offer cover more than 9,000 sq km.
According to China Daily, they’ll have 5-year exploratory terms. Earlier licenses had 3-year terms.
Bidders must be independent legal entities registered in the Chinese mainland with net assets of at least $151 million.