The 57 marginal field investors that recently emerged after a successful bid round will be getting their Petroleum Prospecting Licences on Tuesday, June 28, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), has said. The Commission’s Chief Executive, Gbenga Komolafe who made the disclosure at the weekend said: “In fulfillment of the promise made early this year, the NUPRC will on Tuesday in Abuja, issue Petroleum Prospecting Licences to successful awardees of marginal fields in the 2020 bid round, pursuant to the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021.
“The Commission had in March this year informed all participants in the 2020 marginal field bid round programme that it had put all necessary machinery in place to progress the bid round exercise to conclusion in line with the PIA 2021”.
Komolafe assured that implementing the development trust would guarantee seamless operations, boost investors’ confidence and provide an enabling environment for sustainable improvement of the country’s hydrocarbon resources. “These will mark the conclusion of some of the most urgent and critical tasks inherited by the commission when it was inaugurated in October 2021, after the signing into law of the PIA 2021,” he stated. 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.
But in January, the NUPRC disclosed that 128 awardees emerged as successful bidders in the bid round and had made complete and part payments for signature bonuses in the oil fields.
It also disclosed at the time that 33 awardees did not make payments during the 45 days window given to successful bidders to pay the required signature bonuses for the oil fields and as such had lost their awards to suitably qualified reserve bidders.