TheCable

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has granted award tenders for the development of 57 marginal oilfields, Reuters is reporting.

The news agency reports that the DPR sent provisional award letters to the companies requesting payment within 45 days in order to secure the awards.

It also quotes sources as saying the DPR is awarding each field to more than one company, a process referred to as “arranged marriages” in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

Marginal fields are smaller oil blocks developed by indigenous companies. They are often discovered on an IOC-owned block where there has been no activity in at least the last 10 years.

The last marginal oilfield bid round held in 2002.

At the time, 24 licenses were awarded to 31 indigenous companies — 11 of which were revoked by the government for inactivity.

On December 31, Paul Osu, DPR head of public affairs, announced a shortlist of 161 successful companies for the bid.

“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,” he said at the time.

TheCable had reported that the DPR said the federal government is expected to generate $500 million from signature bonuses for the 57 marginal oilfields.