* Shell-led venture seeks two oil blocks in Albania
* Energy Ministry evaluating three bids
TIRANA, July 23 (Reuters) - A venture between Royal Dutch
Shell RDSa.L and Canada's Petromanas PMI.V has applied to
drill two onshore blocks in central Albania close to another
promising well they are drilling further south, an official told
Reuters on Thursday.
The official said three bids had been submitted for the
blocks - from Shell Upstream Albania B.V with Petromanas Albania
GmbH, Israel's Delek Group Limited DLEKG.TA and Interland
Investments SA.
The National Resources Agency has forwarded the bids to the
Energy Ministry, which will pick a winner and instruct the
agency to start negotiations.
Shell's bid signals renewed interest in Albania, a NATO
nation seeking to join the European Union, after many oil majors
failed to strike oil there in the decade after it toppled
communism in 1990.
The Shell-Petromanas venture in Albania is now drilling two
wells to size up the output potential after very promising
initial results at their Shpirag well, half a mile from the spot
where Occidental found very little oil in 2001 and quit.