Upstream · worldwide · issue 03
Global licensing intelligence across oil & gas, CO2 storage and geothermal.
Licensing rounds, deadlines, regulator sources and dated changes across oil & gas, CO2 storage and geothermal.
Source-backed terms, awards, subsurface data and analysis of what each opportunity involves.
See what you get with Acreage Intelligence →Click a country to filter to it. Equirectangular, trimmed at 84°N and 60°S — shapes are simplified and are not a survey. Sub-national entries (Texas, New Mexico, Alaska, BLM) all sit under the United States.
Open or rolling as last verified, sorted by published closing date. Check each entry’s verification date and flags: a rolling regime does not guarantee that a particular block is available. Use the resource filter for oil & gas, CO2 storage or geothermal.
Governments and NOCs have committed publicly but published no block list or deadline. Several of these have slipped repeatedly — Tanzania's fifth round has been imminent since early 2025.
The half of this map nobody publishes. A moratorium, a ban or an abolished regulator is as decisive for a new-ventures screen as an open round — and far harder to find out about, because nothing gets announced when nothing happens.
What happened to the acreage, and what came back. Unawarded blocks return to the basket and reappear on revised terms — Libya is relaunching seventeen, Nigeria thirteen.
Free and paid · the same Indonesia round
Compare the free entry with an extract from Acreage Intelligence for Indonesia’s 2026 Bid Round Phase II. Both use the same regulator publications; the paid version organises the research for screening and comparison.
The register
Indonesia · 2026 Bid Round Phase II
The free record includes source notes, which can mention individual terms. Intelligence brings the terms into dedicated fields, area-by-area comparisons and separate analysis.
Paid · Acreage Intelligence
Indonesia · 2026 Bid Round Phase II
Everything in the free entry, plus the structured research below. Extract checked 27 September 2026.
US$200,000 per area. This is the published minimum bonus; the work commitment is a separate obligation.
Cost recovery on six areas. Talu and Leti Selatan offer a choice of cost recovery or gross split.
Bid documents available 17 September–31 October 2026. Submissions close 2 November 2026.
Leti Selatan follows a separate timetable: document access and submissions run to 14 January 2027.
Published minimum firm commitments for the first three years include a geological and geophysical study, plus the work below.
| Area | Size (km²) | Route / contract | Minimum work beyond the study |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jago | 8,487.61 | Direct offer · cost recovery | 500 km² of 3D seismic |
| Mahesa | 9,145.66 | Direct offer · cost recovery | 1,000 line-km of 2D seismic |
| Rafflesia | 9,027.74 | Direct offer · cost recovery | 1,000 line-km of 2D seismic |
| Belibis | 4,860.47 | Direct offer · cost recovery | One exploration well |
| Talu | 4,676.26 | Direct offer · cost recovery or gross split | 500 km² of 3D seismic |
| Manta | 8,498.81 | Direct offer · cost recovery | 1,000 line-km of 2D seismic |
| Palu | 7,912.78 | Direct offer · cost recovery | 300 line-km of 2D seismic |
| Leti Selatan | 11,226.09 | Regular tender · cost recovery or gross split | 250 km² of 3D or 1,000 line-km of 2D seismic |
Registration is through the ministry’s WK Migas portal. The offer includes Migas Data Repository access, but the announcement gives no existing seismic or well coverage figures per area. The work commitments above are new obligations, not an inventory of available data.
Acreage’s reading: the same minimum bonus covers very different work obligations. Belibis needs a drilling assessment; the seismic areas need acquisition budgets. Talu and Leti Selatan also need a comparison of contract options. Leti Selatan remains on a later timetable.
Source: Direktorat Jenderal Migas, Phase II announcement, 17 September 2026. Extract from the record checked 27 September; verify current terms and dates in the tender documents. Published requirements and Acreage’s interpretation are distinguished above.
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The register helps you find and follow opportunities. The paid research helps you assess the terms, evidence and outstanding questions before committing more time.
| What do you need to know? | Free | Paid Intelligence |
|---|---|---|
| Where can I look, and when? Rounds, deadlines and regulator links | Included | Included |
| What changed, and where is access restricted? Maps, closed jurisdictions and dated changes | Included | Included |
| What would entry commit us to? Published terms, fees and work commitments | — | Included |
| Who won, and what still has to happen? Awards, bidders and outstanding conditions | — | Included |
| Is there enough data to assess this? Published subsurface coverage and access | — | Included |
| What is happening before a round opens? Dated documents and procurement sources | — | Included |
| Who is already there? Recorded incumbency and entry history | — | Included |
| What deserves a closer look? Bid criteria, unsold acreage and entry-cost analysis | — | Included |
Research depth varies by entry. Published facts, source gaps and derived analysis are labelled separately. “Included” describes the coverage available in each version, not a complete record for every round.
Acreage brings scattered regulator documents into a source-linked record. Use it to shortlist opportunities, spot missing information and focus the next piece of research.
Screen acreage, compare published commitments and identify the questions to resolve before assigning a bid team.
Follow licensing plans and technical activity to prioritise market research, studies and business-development conversations.
Build a sourced starting point for client briefings and track changes across the countries they follow.
Distinguish announced opportunities from open rounds and follow what remains outstanding after an award.
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Every entry links to the source it came from. Where a regulator has published nothing and the round exists only in a ministerial statement at a conference, that is marked — because "announced at AEW" and "biddable to a published deadline" are not the same thing, and treating them as equivalent is how a screening exercise wastes a quarter.
Two entries carry active contradictions in their published sources. Kazakhstan's twelfth round shows an auction date falling before its own application deadline. Algeria's block count is reported as seven perimeters by three sources and twenty-four by a fourth. These are flagged rather than silently resolved. Bangladesh was a third until Petrobangla's own Invitation for Bid was located and enumerated the blocks — twenty-six, not twenty-seven. That is what this publication is for.
Compiled from primary regulator publications where they exist, and trade press where they do not. Dates are as published and move frequently — India's OALP-X deadline was extended four times. Verify against the regulator before committing capital or a bid team.