Bidding opens for Xinjiang oil and gas blocks

Northwestern China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region launched bidding on Tuesday for six oil and gas blocks to private enterprises, a move that may end the monopoly of State-owned enterprises in oil and gas exploration, industry insiders said.

The bidding extends beyond State-owned energy giants to qualified Chinese private bidders with net assets of more than 1 billion yuan ($162 million), the Ministry of Land and Resources said in a statement on Tuesday.

The ministry announced that it had decided to transfer oil and gas exploration blocks in Xinjiang through competitive bidding, aiming to expand investment in oil and gas exploration and exploitation and further diversify investment entities in the upstream of the oil and gas industry.