A number of British oil and gas exploration companies have joined Malaysian and Canadian firms in expressing an interest in the development potential of Bosnia's oil fields.

Coming on the back of steadily-rising crude oil prices, the Sarajevo government has announced that it is to revive long-standing oil and gas exploration plans.

However, with the country currently lacking an industry infrastructure, including a skilled oil sector workforce, Bosnia's largest engineering group, Energoinvest, has issued an international tender for the exploration projects.

Under the proposals put forward by the firm, five separate fields will be worked on over the next decade, all of which will be located in the Muslim-Croat autonomous half of Bosnia.

This comes a year after the rights for oil exploration in the Serbian republic half of Bosnia were awarded to Russia's Zarubezhneft.

Should a Malaysian firm win the contract in Bosnia, it would cap a good year for the Asian nation, with sales of crude oil and liquefied natural gas having increased by 58.8 per cent and 33.4 per cent respectively.

5th Global Education & Training event for Oil and Gas: Exploration & Production