By Curtis Williams
Jan 28 (Reuters) - Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday offered 26 offshore oil and gas blocks in its largest-ever auction of areas for deepwater exploration and production, according to an official notice.
The twin-island Caribbean country, Latin America's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas $(LNG)$, is pushing producers, especially those offshore, to accelerate natural gas output in order to resume full use of its gas processing capacity.
The new blocks on offer include some bordering Venezuela and Guyana as Trinidad and Tobago tries to attract large producers and secure enough gas supply for its LNG and petrochemical sectors.
The auction will close on July 2, with awards expected three months later, said the notice, published in a local newspaper.
The government's share of any oil or gas discovered will be used as a key metric for awarding the contracts, according to the auction's terms. Companies will be given up to 10 years to complete exploration.
Trinidad does not currently have any production from its deepwater acreage, but Woodside Energy WDS.AX is considering the development of its Calypso discovery.
Energy majors BP BP.L and Shell SHEL.L operate three deepwater blocks, in which they recently completed seismic work.
(Reporting by Curtis Williams in Houston; Editing by Nia Williams)
((Curtis.Williams@thomsonreuters.com; +1 346 324 7560;))
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