Chile's government is preparing a second oil and gas exploration tender in the southern Magallanes region for later this year, Energy Minister Ricardo Raineri said Wednesday.

The vast bulk of oil and gas Chile consumes is imported, and as such the government is looking for ways to diversify its fuel sources.

"We're gathering information about the seabed, once that information is complete we'll start the tender process during the second half of the year," Raineri told Dow Jones Newswires.

After the tender process in Magallanes, the government plans to start another next year for special operating contracts, or CEOPs as they are known in Spanish, for the port city of Valdivia and the Arauco Gulf.

In 2007, the government tendered nine oil and gas blocks in southern Chile for exploration and development, of which three are being developed jointly with Chilean state-run oil company Empresa Nacional del Petroleo SA.

Companies that won tenders include Apache Canada Ltd., subsidiary of Apache Corp. (APA); Panamerican Energy LLC; Canada's Methanex Corp. (MEOH) and Greymouth Petroleum Holding Ltd.

In 2006, Geopark Holdings Ltd. (GPK.LN), a Latin American oil and gas exploration and production company, became the first private oil and gas company in production in Chile.

Chile's state-run oil and gas company, also known as Enap, supplies about 80% of Chile's fuel needs and exports refined products to Peru, Ecuador and Central America, and has minimal oil and gas production in the Magallanes region.