Oil bid round progressing as planned, says NUPRC

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission has said the 2024 oil bid is progressing according to plan.

The NUPRC Chief Executive, Gbenga Komolafe, who spoke briefly to our correspondent after an event in Lagos recently, said the exercise was progressing smoothly.

Komolafe told The that the bid round was progressing in line with the schedule the commission made available.

The commission’s chief executive, who expressed happiness over the bid round, emphasised that it was progressing smoothly.

“My response to that is that the bid round is progressing in line with the schedule that we had made available. So, it’s progressing smoothly. Yes, and we’re happy with that,” Komolafe replied tersely when asked to give updates on the bid round.

The PUNCH reports that data access/data purchase/evaluation/bid preparation and submission for the bid round started on July 8, 2024, and would close on November 29, 2024.

During the pre-bid conference held recently in Lagos, it was announced that President Bola Tinubu had reduced the signature bonus payable by successful bidders from around $200m to $10m.

According to Komolafe, the NUPRC surveyed what other countries like Brazil demand as signature bonuses from would-be investors and discovered the need to slash that of Nigeria.

Komolafe maintained that a heavy signature bonus is a front entry barrier in the Nigerian oil sector, saying it is why many have not been able to develop assets awarded to them.

Henceforth, the NUPRC disclosed that an investment in deepwater will attract $10m as a signature bonus, while shallow water and onshore will attract $7m.

To qualify for the bid round, the NUPRC Assistant Director, Multiclient Surveys and Regional Studies, Ahmad Abdullahi, disclosed that interested bidding organisations must possess a financial capacity of about $200m for deep offshore and $150m for shallow water and onshore.

The PUNCH recalls that the regulator recently removed five oil blocks from the ongoing licensing round due to legal disputes. The affected assets are PPL3008, PPL3009, PML51, PPL267, and PPL268.

Komolafe had earlier, in a statement, announced the addition of 17 deep offshore oil blocks to the 2024 licensing round.