Licensing rounds, service contracts and local content obligations
Notices in this category cover two quite different things. One is access to acreage: licensing or bid rounds in which a state offers exploration and production rights and evaluates work programme commitments, financial capacity and fiscal terms rather than a price for services. The other is the service market that follows -- drilling, seismic, well services, engineering, fabrication, inspection and maintenance -- bought by national oil companies and operators under conventional contracts. The qualification routes for the two have almost nothing in common.
Service contracts in upstream work are dominated by day rates and standby rates, because the cost of an idle rig or vessel is the thing both parties are managing. Mobilisation and demobilisation are priced separately, weather and waiting-on-operations risk is allocated explicitly, and the contract usually carries a knock-for-knock liability regime in which each party bears its own people and property loss regardless of fault. That regime is standard in the industry and surprising to bidders arriving from other sectors.
Two requirement sets tend to decide who can compete. Safety and environmental management is assessed as a system -- permit to work, well control certification, emergency response, spill preparedness, and an auditable incident record -- and a weak record excludes a bidder before commercial evaluation. Local content obligations are the second: many producing states require defined proportions of local employment, local sourcing, training and often local ownership, evidenced in the bid and audited during the contract, which makes a credible in-country partner a practical condition of entry rather than a commercial choice.
This section describes how this category is bought generally, across the public buyers that publish it. The figures elsewhere on this page are measured for this market alone.
Who buys oil gas upstream in France?
GlobalGov holds 1,894 oil gas upstream records from 1,506 distinct buying organisations in France. The most frequent publishers are sce departemental incendie et secours (13 records); ville de Paris (7 records); departement de la lozere (6 records); métropole Nice Côte d'azur (6 records); Département de la Savoie (5 records); La Maison pour Tous (5 records). Between them the 6 largest account for 2.2% of everything published, so buying here is spread across many separate authorities.
| Buying organisation | Records | Share |
|---|---|---|
| sce departemental incendie et secours | 13 | 0.7% |
| ville de Paris | 7 | 0.4% |
| departement de la lozere | 6 | 0.3% |
| métropole Nice Côte d'azur | 6 | 0.3% |
| Département de la Savoie | 5 | 0.3% |
| La Maison pour Tous | 5 | 0.3% |
What are oil gas upstream contracts worth in France?
738 of the 1,894 records publish a contract value. The median is $1.1M and the largest single published value is $1.6B. By size, 25 under $100k, 317 between $100k and $1M, 308 between $1M and $10M, 88 above $10M. The remaining 1,156 publish no value at all, so every figure here describes the priced subset only, and values are as stated by the buyer rather than as finally awarded.
| Contract size | Records | Share of priced |
|---|---|---|
| under $100k | 25 | 3.4% |
| between $100k and $1M | 317 | 43% |
| between $1M and $10M | 308 | 42% |
| above $10M | 88 | 12% |
How long do bidders get to respond to oil gas upstream tenders in France?
Across the 541 France oil gas upstream notices that publish both a publication date and a closing date, the median response window is 34 days. A quarter of them allowed 32 days or fewer and a quarter stayed open for more than 41. Not one of them closed within a fortnight of being published, so the window on this market is consistently workable.
How often are oil gas upstream tenders published in France?
France publishes about 10 notices a month in this category, 125 in the last twelve months. That is 56% fewer than the 287 published in the twelve months before that. Over the last three years there were 711, spread across 62 separate months of activity since 18 October 2017. October is historically the busiest month. No new notice has been published in this category since 26 May 2026, 128 days ago, so treat the figures above as a record of the market rather than as this week's pipeline.
How does France compare with other oil gas upstream markets?
Among the 27 countries where GlobalGov holds a comparable oil gas upstream market, France ranks 2nd by number of records. The largest is Poland (2,222 records against 1,894 here). Within France itself, oil gas upstream is the 35th largest of the 86 procurement categories tracked here.
Where do the France oil gas upstream records on this page come from?
These 1,894 records are collected from 1 official source: TED (1,894). GlobalGov is an independent aggregator and is not affiliated with any of them; each record links back to the notice on its issuing portal. The set is rebuilt nightly, and the counts on this page were taken on 2026-10-01.
Most recent Oil Gas Upstream tenders in France
None of these are open for bids now — they are the most recent records GlobalGov holds for this market, kept here so the shape of a typical oil gas upstream notice in France is visible. Set an alert to be told when the next one opens.
France – Petroleum and distillates – 2026-017 - ACCORD CADRE FOURNITURE DE CARBURANTS
France – Natural gas – Fourniture et livraison de gaz naturel
France – Diesel fuel – Fourniture de carburants
France – Natural gas – CONTRAT DE PERFORMANCE ENERGETIQUE EN VUE DE L’EXPLOITATION DES INSTALLATIONS TECHNIQUES ET LA REALISATION DE TRAVAUX DE PERFORMANCE ENERGETIQUE SUR LES LOGEMENTS DES IMMEUBLES COLLECTIFS D’HABITATION DU PARC IMMOBILIER DE LOGE.GBM
France – Natural gas – FOURNITURE DE GAZ NATUREL ET SERVICES ASSOCIES POUR LES BESOINS DU GROUPEMENT DE COMMANDES COMPOSE DE LA REGIE DES TRANSPORTS METROPOLITAINS, DE RTM EST METROPOLE, DE RTM OUEST METROPOLE, DE TRANSCOOL 13 ET DU TRANSPORT PAYS DE L'ETOILE
France – Natural gas – EXPLOITATION DES INSTALLATIONS THERMIQUES AVEC FOURNITURE D’ENERGIE ET TRAVAUX D’AMELIORATION
Other procurement categories in France
Vehicle MaintenanceArchitecture and EngineeringManagement ConsultingWaste ManagementFinancial AdvisoryCivil ConstructionVehicles and FleetBuilding ConstructionMaintenance & RepairOffice FurnitureSoftware DevelopmentRoads and Highways InfrastructureMedical EquipmentBuilding MaterialsHospital ConstructionAgricultural EquipmentFood Aid and NutritionIct EquipmentTraining and Capacity BuildingGround TransportSite PreparationFacilities and CleaningStaffing AugmentationFuel SupplyRenovation RehabilitationCatering ServicesFreight and LogisticsLaboratory EquipmentPharmaceuticalsUniforms ClothingCommunications PrTelecommunicationsEvent ManagementPrinting PublishingSchools and UniversitiesMail CourierRoad & InfrastructureAudit and AccountingCommunity DevelopmentSecurity ServicesResearch and StudiesIT ConsultingWater Supply ProjectsWeapons SystemsEnergyTransportationHelpdesk SupportPower TransmissionTraining & EducationSanitation SewerageConsultingMilitary LogisticsWarehousingDatabase ManagementCybersecurityMonitoring EvaluationElectrical InstallationLegal ServicesFacilities ManagementResearch & DevelopmentNetwork InfrastructureSurveillance & IsrProject ManagementISR and SurveillanceFinancial ServicesSurvey & MappingScientific ResearchEnvironmental ServicesHealthcare ServicesNaval SystemsEnvironmental AssessmentSolar EnergyBridgesWater TreatmentPpeMiscellaneous GoodsCloud InfrastructureOffice SuppliesAdult LiteracyMilitary AviationUrban PlanningMilitary VehiclesCloud ServicesMilitary ConstructionIt Support & Maintenance
Oil Gas Upstream procurement in other markets
Never Miss a France Government Contract
Finding France tenders usually means a local portal, a local registration and someone who reads the language. Get an alert you can read when a new oil gas upstream opportunity is published there.
Start Free Trial