Nigeria to conclude oil bid round for marginal fields

The Federal Government, yesterday, showed readiness to end the ongoing marginal bid round, which already had already seen the award of 57 licenses.

The Federal Government had in June last year, commenced a bid round for the fields, which are mainly in the Niger Delta.

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), which replaced the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources said in a release that the 2020 marginal field bid round programme would be closed with machinery to progress the bid round exercise in line with the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 (PIA).

About $7 billion (N3 trillion) revenue will be added to Nigeria’s economy from the development of the marginal fields going by the rebound in global oil prices.

At over $70 a barrel, the country seeks a production volume of 100 million barrels from marginal fields licenses in a move that will see earnings peak at $7 billion if the oil rally is sustained and production commences.

The Commission’s Chief Executive, Gbenga Komolafe, in a notice to participants in the programme indicated that an in-house work team has already been constituted to deal with outstanding issues.

According to him, the agency will address prevailing concerns of awardees with a view to closing out issues affecting multiple awardees per asset and formation of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) by awardees in line with the respective letters of award.

Komolafe called on awardees with the indicated issues to avail themselves of the resolution mechanism provided, in the overriding national interest.

Komolafe also stated that the agency is collaborating with lease holders to agree on transition mechanisms in line with the PIA and the aspirations of the government for the marginal field bid round exercise.

He restated that the 45 days period for payment of signature bonus by successful awardees as stipulated by the Marginal Field Guidelines has elapsed.

The commission, according to him, will ensure all applicable guidelines to enable beneficiaries who have paid signature bonuses to progress to the next stage of the exercise.