Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) plans to sign contracts for the next round of offshore drilling in March 2018, the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) has announced.

“We have already issued the tender so we should sign next month,” Nizar Al-Adsani, KPC’s CEO, told Interfax Natural Gas Daily during the IP Week conference in London on February 23^rd.

The contracts were expected to be signed in the second half of 2018 in order for the offshore projects to go ahead, Arab Times Newspaper reported.

KOC’s internal tenders committee went ahead and launched the offshore tenders without resorting to the Central Tenders Committee, based on specific conditions of the new Tenders Law.

The tender aims to explore six different locations at the Kuwaiti Bay before the end of 2018. KOC has invited Halliburton, Baker Hughes and Schlumberger to present their offers.