TheCable

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) says 600 companies have applied to be prequalified for the marginal oil fields bid rounds.

Paul Osu, DPR head of public affairs, told NAN on Friday that the bid round process for its 57 marginal oilfields is still ongoing.

“The 2020 marginal oilfield bid round process is still ongoing in line with our published timelines on the DPR website and bid portal,” Osu said.

“Over 600 companies have applied to be prequalified for the bid rounds which began on June 1. However, the DPR had put measures in place to ensure that the awardees would be credible investors with technical and financial capability.

“The objective of the 2020 marginal field bid round was to deepen the participation of indigenous companies in the upstream segment of the industry and provide opportunities for technical and financial partnerships for investors.”

According to Osu, the last time the country conducted marginal field bid rounds was in 2003 “with 16 of the fields now contributing two percent to the national oil and gas reserves while bringing development to their host communities in the Niger Delta”.

A marginal field is any field that has reserves booked and reported annually to the DPR and was unproductive for a period of over 10 years.

The process began on June 1.