In close coordination with the State Department’s Bureau of Energy Resources (ENR), CLDP conducted a two and a half day workshop entitled “Durable Offshore Oil and Gas Contracts for Cooperation with International Oil Companies” from August 21-23, 2013.  Approximately 32 officials from the Ministry of Energy (MOE), Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), and the Union Attorney General’s Office (AG Office) attended this three-day workshop.  MOE and MOGE are currently administering an offshore bidding round for 19 deep-water and 11 shallow-water blocks and the AG Office will have legal oversight of the production sharing contracts (PSCs).  MOE and MOGE prequalified 61 companies and set a November 15, 2013 deadline for bid submission but acknowledge that they lack experience dealing with international oil companies on deep-water blocks.  Accordingly, ENR requested that CLDP, under the aegis of ENR’s Energy Governance Capacity Initiative (EGCI), conduct a workshop on best practices in administering a competitive deep-water bid round and negotiation and implementation of durable offshore contracts.  Workshop topics included: PSCs for Offshore Projects-The Value Chain for Governments and Private Parties, Competitive Bidding of Oil and Gas Projects, Obligations and Authorities in Offshore PSC Agreements, Risk Mitigation and Dispute Resolution, US Leasing Terms and Conditions, Fiscal Terms, Revenue Management and The Operating Environment for Offshore Projects and PSCs.  This workshop placed the participants in a better position to administer competitive bid rounds and negotiate and implement durable contracts for offshore oil and gas projects.  At the end of the program, all stakeholders discussed a financial modeling workshop as a potential next phase of technical assistance.