Nigeria Government Begins Bid Rounds, Offers 12 Oil Blocks To Investors

Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) announced on behalf of the federal government that it has kick-started the process of oil bid rounds this year, offering around 12 oil blocks to investors.

Commission Chief Executive Gbenga Komolafe of NUPRC made this announcement on Monday at the first edition of the NEITI House Dialogue, which was organized by the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative in Abuja.

"It is my pleasure to announce to you that the 2024 licensing round as prescribed in the Petroleum Industry Act will commence from the end of this month and we will be going offshore to market it as part of our job," he said, reported Punch.

"Our job equally entails marketing of the nation's hydrocarbon resources to prospective investors. So, we are going to do that, and the process has commenced. We've set very clear criteria to guide the implementation of the process from the beginning to the end transparently."

When Komolafe was questioned during the NEITI House Dialogue regarding the earnings Nigeria would make from the bid rounds, he replied, "The assets that are being put on offer are mostly greenfield assets, so they are virgin assets and so to accurately quantify the amount to be generated might be difficult since they are greenfield assets."

He further shared that the commission is currently putting on offer 12 blocks, adding that "we commenced a bid process in 2022 where we put 17 offshore assets on offer but as the date grew close to the last election, we had to put a hold on it."

However, the commission's target is to complete 17 blocks, including the ones available now and early next year. Whereas those oil blocks were previously awarded to investors but are not currently in use, Komolafe mentioned that the commission plans to cancel those awards. He noted that NUPRC is still reviewing these inactive blocks.

Last week, the federal government and state governments with other key stakeholders from the private sector signed the Aso Accord for Economic and Financial Inclusion, aiming to provide affordable financial services, especially to disadvantaged and low-income Nigerians.