Brazil is preparing plans for another licensing round some time towards the middle of next year, according to latest reports.

A senior official has suggested plans are being prepared to hold a new oil rights auction mid-2015, which gives more time for sale rules to be drawn up. Marco Antônio Martins Almeida, petroleum secretary at Brazil’s Energy Ministry, was said to have given the indication to journalists, Reuters reported. “Next year we will have an auction for sure, the first half at the latest,” Almeida was quoted as saying.

However the agency has also pointed out that Brazil’s Magda Chambriard, head of Brazil’s oil regulator, had signalled back in March that she was taking a “conservative” approach towards another licensing round, which was taken to mean that another annual license auction may not take place this year.