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FG Sets Bid Round Guidelines for Award of 46 Marginal Oil Fields

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The federal government through the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has set the guidelines for the marginal oil field bid round scheduled to take place later this year or early 2018 and could potentially see scores of investors jostling to acquire 46 oil acreages during the exercise, THISDAY has learnt.

Of the 46 acreages up grabs, it was however gathered that the DPR is considering setting aside some of the oil blocks for discretionary award to firms owned by Niger Delta indigenes, in order to sustain the prevalent peace in the oil-rich region and give its citizens a sense of ownership in Nigeria’s oil wealth.

Though federal government under former President Olusegun Obasanjo initiated efforts to enthrone open, transparent and competitive bid rounds in the award of oil blocks, the Petroleum Act empowers the Minister of Petroleum Resources to award oil acreages on a discretionary basis, a process that was frequently abused by past military administrations.

According to DPR sources, at least 25 of the marginal fields in the current bid round are promising and if developed could produce 5,000 to 10,000 barrels per day of oil equivalent (bpoe).

 

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