Fed Govt Earns N174bn From Marginal Oil Fields Lease

At least N174 billion was raked in by the federal government from the payment for the 2020 marginal oil fields, the Commission Chief Executive (CCE) of Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) Engr Gbenga Komolafe, has said.

Komolafe, who spoke during the engagement with 2020 marginal field bid round awardees in Abuja on Thursday, said 57 fields were identified for the 2020 bid round exercise while a total of 665 entities expressed interest.

The NUPRC’s CCE said 161 investors emerged as potential awardees after extensive evaluation processes as laid down in the law.

He disclosed that signature bonuses for 119 awards were fully paid while nine awards were partly paid for and 33 awards were not paid for.

He said the marginal field guidelines provided for 45 days for the payment of signature bonus which has since elapsed, “and we have issued a public notice to that effect as well as notified the relevant potential awardees”.

He said: “This engagement with Marginal Field awardees and Leaseholders is for the Commission to state the policy position on the 2020 Marginal Fields Bid Round (MFBR), to enable successful awardees to progress to field development phase in line with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.’’

He said the marginal field was conceived to entrench the indigenization policy of the government in the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry.

Komolafe insisted that the agency was doing everything possible to allay concerns and challenges facing the investors.

“NUPRC management, on its assumption, set up a committee to look into issues surrounding the bid round and come up with strategies to resolve them. And some of these issues include the formation of SPVs, equity participation, and part payments.