Fed Govt Set To Close 2020 Marginal Oilfield Bid Round

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission on Tuesday said it was set to close out the 2020 marginal field bid round programme.

It said the NUPRC had put in place all necessary machinery to progress the bid round exercise to conclusion in line with the Petroleum Industry Act 2021.

The Chief Executive Officer of the commission, Gbenga Komolafe, in a notice to participants of the programme on Tuesday, indicated that an in-house work team had already been constituted to deal with outstanding issues.

He said the issues include distilling and addressing the concerns of awardees with a view to closing out matters affecting multiple awardees per asset and formation of Special Purpose Vehicles by awardees in line with the respective letters of award.

Komolafe in a statement issued by the commission, enjoined awardees with the indicated issues to avail themselves of the resolution mechanism provided by the NUPRC in the overriding national interest.

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

He said the 45 days period for payment of signature bonus by successful awardees as stipulated in the Marginal Field Guidelines had lapsed.

He, however, assured those who had fully paid their signature bonuses that the commission would ensure that all applicable guidelines to enable them progress to the next stage of the exercise were fully implemented.

On May 31, 2021, the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources issued letters of award to investors for the production of crude oil from 57 marginal fields.

Although the DPR was mute on the exact number of firms that emerged successful for the awards at the ceremony in Abuja, it called up some to receive their letters.

Some of the firms include A.A Rano Nigeria Limited, Duchess Energy and Emadeb Energy Services Limited.

Others include Matrix Energy Limited, Shafa Exploration and Production Company Limited, Kasiva Limited, DuPaul Mainstream Company Limited and Vhelbherg Exploration and Production Development Company Limited, among others.

The firms would be exploring a total of 57 marginal fields located on land, swamp and offshore terrains, which were put on offer by DPR in June 2020.

The exercise was carried out in two phases, which were expression of interest/pre-qualification phase, and technical and financial phase.