The Nigerian UpstreamPetroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, yesterday, disclosed that it has commenced the process for the 2024 oil bid round with 12 oil blocks on offer and seven deep offshore blocks from last year’s bid round.

The Commission Chief Executive, Engr. Gbenga Komolafe who disclosed this at the inaugural NEITI House Dialogue in Abuja, said the process will be concluded by January next year.

The new green field oil blocks on offer include six acreages located on continental shelf, four deep offshore blocks and two onshore blocks in the Niger Delta.

Komolafe explained that the Commission has put in place regulations to create a conducive investment environment by ensuring regulatory certainty, vacating entry barriers and promoting global competitiveness.

He said: “The licencing round that we are putting in place is designed to enhance the quality data set and it is going to be conducted in a fair, and competitive bidding process in a non-discriminating manner”.

He noted that some of the criteria required for acquiring the blocks include technical competence, financial capacity and viability.

He also disclosed that the Commission generated N4.344 trillion in revenues in 2023, a rise of 15 per cent from N3.78 trillion generated in 2022.

Speaking at the dialogue, the Executive Secretary, Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, Dr Orji Ogbonnaya Orji explained that the NEITI House Quarterly Dialogue will host notable policy makers in Nigeria’s extractive industries and related sectors, who will address issues that are of interest and topical to the industry.

Sets guidelines for Shell assets divestment

Meanwhile, the NUPRC has set out guidelines for the proposed divestment of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigerian Limited (SPDC) assets through a sale by its shareholders of all the issued shares of SPDC to Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited.

The SPDC JV assets are currently operated by the SPDC on behalf of its Joint Venture (JV) partners namely NNPCL Limited and Total Upstream Nigeria Limited, Nigeria Agip Oil Company and SPDC.

Speaking at a divestment workshop in Abuja on Monday, Engr Komolafe said the SPDC JV OMLs were “originally awarded as Oil Exploration Licence -1(OEL-1) on 1 January 1949 covering the whole of southern Nigeria and Cameroon. Ultimately, the assets were converted to OMLs on 1 April 1962 and subsequently renewed in 2014 and 2018 for 20 years.

“To date, the assets have achieved a cumulative production of 5.35 billion barrels of crude oil, 165. 57 million barrels of condensate, 9.51 trillion cubic feet of Associated Gas and 3.75 trillion cubic feet of Non-Associated Gas, contributing immensely to the achievement of Nigeria’s crude and condensate output. (Vanguard)