No bids were received in the selection process for the Uruguay Round 3, so ANCAP declares the bidding void. On April 26 at 2:00 pm the deadline expired. The Uruguay Round 3 is a call for bids that the Executive Branch convenes through ANCAP of areas for the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons in the exclusive economic zone of Uruguay. 

Although two companies submitted their documentation to qualify, Tullow Oil and Azilat, none of them specified their interest by submitting offers. The Irish oil company, Tullow Oil, is currently operator of Area 15 of offshore Uruguay, awarded in the framework of the Uruguay Round II, with Statoil of Norway and Japan's Inpex as non-operating partners.

During the Uruguay Round 3, launches were made in Houston and London, individual meetings and data rooms were held with more than thirty companies, both in Montevideo and in their headquarters, following a process very similar to that of previous rounds. However, the situation of the oil industry, with several consecutive years of low oil barrel prices, has implied a massive reduction of exploration budgets in border basins.

Since 2008, within the framework of the energy policy guidelines established by the MIEM, ANCAP has focused on the reactivation of hydrocarbons exploration in our country, achieving investments of more than one billion dollars, contributed entirely to risk by of private oil companies. This has greatly increased the database and information available (more than 41000 km of 2D seismic, 42000 km² of 3D seismic and 13000 km² of 3D electromagnetism), as well as knowledge of the hydrocarbon potential of our subsoil, invigorating the concepts and models geology of the offshore of Uruguay. 

In this sense, the convenience of modifying the system of allocation of areas to adapt it to the current market conditions will be evaluated.