The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has announced that it has shortlisted 161 successful companies to advance to the next and final stage of the bid round process for 57 marginal oilfields in the country.
While making the disclosure on Thursday, December 31, 2020, in Lagos, the Head, Public Affairs of DPR, Mr Paul Osu, said that the firms were selected from the more than 600 companies that applied for pre-qualification.
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This marginal oilfield bid round is coming 18 years after the last bid round in 2002, and was open to indigenous oil & gas companies and investors interested in participating in the exploration and production business in Nigeria.
What the DPR top official is saying
Osu said, “The 2020 marginal oilfield bid round process is still ongoing in line with our published timelines on DPR website and bid portal. The current status is that 161 successful companies have been shortlisted to advance to the next and final stage of the process.’’
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He pointed out that the bid rounds began on June 1, with the DPR putting measures in place to ensure that the awardees would be credible investors with technical and financial capabilities.
According to him, the objective of the 2020 marginal field bid round is to deepen the participation of indigenous companies in the upstream segment of the industry and provide opportunities for technical and financial partnerships for investors.
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Osu revealed that the 16 of the fields that emerged from the last conducted marginal field bid rounds are now contributing two per cent to the national oil and gas reserves, while bringing development to their host communities in the Niger Delta.
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 DPR carves out a piece of land surrounding the discovery and this becomes a Marginal field.
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