Algeria opened bidding on oil and gas exploration licences on Tuesday, reports Reuters.

Algeria’s Energy and Mines Ministry opened bidding on what it called “selected zones… offering a high potential in petroleum resources.” The ministry will be hoping for an improvement on last year’s performance, when only a quarter of the licences on offer were sold. This underperformance was attributed by the government to the global economic climate.

British Petroleum, Amerada Hess, Statoil, Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Repsol and Total are currently involved in oil and gas exploration and production in Algeria.