Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) has extended the deadline for bids for oil and gas exploration until the end of December to give interested companies more time to discuss forming potential consortia, a spokesman said Nov. 11.

The new deadline applies to the second bid round for onshore and offshore blocks that the state energy firm launched last May, the spokesman told Reuters on the sidelines of an energy event in the United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi.

“Based on requests from bidders, we have extended the bid submission timeline until the end of December to give interested companies appropriate time to discuss the forming of potential consortia,” he said.

ADNOC in May launched the second bid round for five new oil and gas blocks, three offshore and two onshore. It said then that the bidding would be for both conventional and unconventional resources, and that successful bidders will enter agreements granting them exploration rights.