FG issues prospecting licenses to successful 2020 bid round awardees on Tuesday
Oredola Adeola
Ten months after the Petroleum Industry Act(PIA) was signed by the Government, the successful awardees of Marginal Fields in the 2020 bid round will on Tuesday, June 28, 2022, be issued their Petroleum Prospecting Licenses(PPL) by the Nigerian Upstream Development Regulatory Commission.
This was confirmed in a statement issued by Engr. Gbenga komolafe Commission Chief Executive(CCE) at the weekend.
EnergyDay gathered that this new development would finally put to rest the contentious hydrocarbon lease sales which was initiated in June 2020 by the now defunct Department of Petroleum Resources(DPR).
The NUPRC which succeeded the DPR in September, 2021, has so far prepared Model Licences and Leases, and delineation of 57 areas of marginal Fields awarded following the 2020 Marginal Field Bid Round.
“Those initiatives facilitated the issuance of PPL to the awardees that formed SPVs as required in the 2020 bid round guidelines, leading to early Field Development Plans (FDPs) and oil and gas production from the awarded Marginal Fields.
According to Engr. Komolafe, NUPRC will on Tuesday in Abuja to successful awardees of Marginal Fields in the 2020 bid rounds, pursuant to the provision of the Petroleum Industry Act(PIA) 2021.
“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.
The Commission had in March this year informed all participants in the 20202 Marginal Field bid round programme that it has put in all necessary machinery in place to progress the bid round exercise to conclusion in line with the PIA 2021.
Engr. Komolafe further said, “In furtherance of that resolutions, the Commission constituted an in house work team to distil and address the concerns of awardees with a view to close out issues affecting multiple awardees per assets and formation of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) by awardees in line with the respective letters of award.
“Awardees were therefore enjoined to avail themselves of the resolution mechanism provided by the Commission in the overriding national interest.
“The successful coordination by the Commission in the overriding national interest . The successful coordination and resolution of the issues culminated in the emergence of the successful awardees that would be handed over licences on Tuesday.
Energyday’s check showed that the issuance of licenses to the awardees would give Nigeria the opportunity to scale up its crude oil reserves that have been abandoned for years, thereby achieving production above OPEC’s quota.
