The Federal Government has hinted of plans to cancel most of the licenses granted to marginal oil field operators in 2023 which have remained non-operational.
This is coming over 30 months after the government completed the acquisition process of these marginal fields and the subsequent notification of the winners.
According to Bloomberg, this was made known by Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, while speaking at the Nigeria Economic Summit currently going on in Abuja.
Lokpobiri said that out of the about 100 licenses that were granted in 2021, only 3 of them are operational, adding that the Federal government will revoke these permits once the 3-year deadline for them to operate expires.
This is not the first the government is cancelling such permits as the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) had in January 2022, revoked marginal oil field awarded to 33 companies for failing to meet the 45 days deadline required to pay the signature bonus for the fields.
What the Minister is saying
Lokpobiri announced that the government plans to hold another oil-bidding round soon.
- He said, ‘’Only three of about 100 licenses granted in that year are operational. The government will revoke the permits once the three-year deadline for them to become operational expires. The government plans to hold another oil-bidding round soon.
What you should know
- Marginal fields are known oil or gas discoveries on an International Oil Company (IOC)-owned block, where there has been no activity in at least the last 10 years. With the agreement of the IOC, the Federal Government carved out a piece of land surrounding the discovery and this became a Marginal field.
- Recall that in June 2020, the then Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) announced the commencement of the 2020 marginal oilfield bid round, 18 years after the last bid round was conducted, and it was open to indigenous oil & gas firms and investors interested in participating in the exploration and production business in Nigeria.
- The DPR later disclosed that it had shortlisted 161 successful companies, from a list of over 600 companies that applied for pre-qualification, to advance to the next and final stage of the bid round process for 57 marginal oilfields in the country.
- In March 2021, the Federal Government announced that the Ministry of Petroleum Resources was expected to generate $600 million from its new marginal oil fields, following the completion of the process for the acquisition of these fields and the subsequent notification of winners.
