The Federal Government has vowed to revoke the marginal field licenses given to some investors almost three years ago and they have not carried out any work on the fields since they were offered the licenses
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Heineken Lokpobir disclosed this while making a remark at the Nigeria Economic Summit Group meeting held in Abuja.
He said over over hundred investors were given licenses but only three of them are doing something serious on the fields while the rest people are just holding on to the licenses.
According to him, he is giving this warning so that when it happens people would not start saying the government is harsh.
The last marginal exercise was largely criticized because of the way and manner it was handled. The then government of Muhammadu Buhari was alleged to be more or less interested in raking – in money from the exercise, hence strange bedfellows were marched to gather as partners in the exercise as winners.
The defunct Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), now changed to Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) concluded the 2020 marginal oilfield bid round, the first successful bid since 2003 when 24 assets were put on offer.
The process, which culminated in the presentation of letters to the bid winners in Abuja by the industry regulator, started in June 2021, with 57 marginal fields spanning land, swamp and offshore put up for lease by the federal government.
However, during the bid round, the DPR stated that 161 successful companies were shortlisted to advance to the final stage. Those shortlisted were selected from 591 entities that applied for pre-qualification.
Marginal fields are smaller oil blocks typically developed by indigenous companies and have remained unproduced for a period of over 10 years.
Some of the companies, which emerged winners included: Matrix Energy, AA Rano, Andova Plc, Duport Midstream, Genesis Technical, Twin Summit, Bono Energy, Deep Offshore Integrated, Oodua Oil, MRS and Petrogas.
Others are: North Oils and Gas, Pierport, Metropole, Pioneer Global, Shepherd Hill, Akata, NIPCO, Aida, YY Connect, Accord Oil, Pathway Oil, Tempo Oil and Virgin Forest, among others.
It was a big win for local oil and gas companies, which had a good outing during the ceremony as 100 percent of the beneficiaries of the exercise were indigenous entities.
Nigeria last conducted marginal field bid rounds in 2003, with 16 of the fields now contributing just two percent to the national oil and gas reserves, a figure the DPR said would be substantially boosted by the latest exercise, worth about $500 million in signature bonuses.
At the presentation of letters to the winners, the then DPR Director, Sarki Auwalu, stated that a total of 591 firms submitted expression of interest forms, out of which 540 were pre-qualified, while 482 were bids submitted by 405 applicants.
He said: “In the end, 161 companies were shortlisted as potential awardees, out of which 50 percent has met all conditions and therefore eligible for awards today. We are set to ensure opportunities are extended to other deserving applicants to fill the gap.
