The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has announced the commencement of its 2022 mini-bid round.
This is according to a press statement signed by NUPRC Chief Executive Officer, Gbenga Komolafe, on Tuesday, January 10.
In the statement, Komolafe explained that the mini-bid round, which presents seven blocks on offer, is an opportunity to spur new exploration and drilling activities in Nigeria’s prospective deep waters.
The NUPRC will manage the mini-bid round process in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), the 2022 Petroleum Licensing Round Regulations, and other enabling laws.
He added that the mini-bid round is a market-driven programme that will follow a transparent and competitive procurement process designed to attract competent third-party investors from across the world.
Details on the seven blocks: According to NUPRC, the seven blocks on offer, are located within the Gulf of Guinea, offshore Nigeria at approximately 150km southeast of Lagos Port ranging from 1000 meters to 2000 meters in water depth.
Blocks PPL-300-DO, PPL-301-DO, and PPL-302-DO are located in the Nigerian Transform Margin area. Blocks PPL-303-DO, PPL-304-DO, PPL-305-DO, and PPL-306-DO are within the deep-water Niger Delta Basin.
In case you missed it: Nairametrics had earlier reported that the NUPRC scheduled January 16 2023 for a pre-bid conference to provide potential applicants with an opportunity to ask questions about the requirements for the mini-bid round.
On January 9, Norwegian Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) announced its support for Nigeria’s mini-bid round. According to PGS, it has assembled a data package to license over the seven blocks, comprised of 10 000 square kilometres of merged 3D seismic data.
This is composed of various input surveys which have been matched, merged, and re-binned onto a common grid resulting in a single, continuous volume of full-stack seismic data in the time domain.
For the record: The mini-bid round exercise is open and non-discriminatory to both local and foreign entities, however, all companies must be registered in Nigeria under the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA).
- Applicants must prove they have the technical capacity and funding for the exploration activities in the blocks.
