State-owned upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) is expected to award the contract for the 3D seismic survey of Kuwait Bay in the coming weeks.

BGP, a geophysical services company whose shares are mainly held by Chinese state-owned oil company China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), is the low bidder, with a price of $364.9m.

French geoscience firm CGG Services is the only other bidder and has submitted a price of $476.3m. Bids for the deal were submitted by the two companies on 4 March.

As things stand, Kuwait has no offshore oil production outside of the Divided Zone that it shares with Saudi Arabia.

The planning and design of several high-resolution land 3D surveys is also ongoing and is targeting areas in northwestern Kuwait and the onshore supergiant Burgan field in the desert in the southeast.

As part of KOC’s 2030 strategy, the company has stated it aims to search for gas and light oil in the country’s Jurassic and Permian plays, and explore unconventional reservoirs.