Suriname on Monday launched an "open-door" offer including about 60 per cent of the country's offshore acreage for oil and gas exploration, state-run energy company Staatsolie said in a release.
Energy companies interested were invited to select areas from shallow water to deep water, and submit work programs in the next 90 days. The firms will be able to choose between a production sharing contract and a technical evaluation agreement to work in the proposed areas.
Staatsolie has also launched a portal providing all available geological and geophysical data for interested companies, it added.
The offer, which was originally announced in August this year, comes as the small South American nation seeks partners and financing for what it hopes could be an oil and gas boom.
Earlier this month, Staatsolie approved the commercial declaration of the Sloanea gas discovery by Malaysia's Petronas at one of the country's most promising offshore areas, Block 52.
(Reporting by Ank Kuipers, writing by Marianna Parraga)