FG Begins Bidding for 2024 Oil Round With 12 Oil and 7 Deep Offshore up for Sale

The federal government recently announced that the bidding process for the 2024 oil round has begun. Twelve oil and seven deep offshore blocks from the previous round are for sale.

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) revealed this yesterday. 

It was also reported that during the inaugural NEITI House Dialogue in Abuja, the NUPRC CEO, Engr. Gbenga Komolafe, disclosed that the federal government seeks to raise $3 billion in capital investment to finance projects under the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialization Programme (NGFCP) and create 300,000 jobs.

He stated that six million households would have access to clean energy through LPG, 20 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions would be avoided annually, 600,000 MT of LPG would be unlocked, and both new and existing IPPs would produce 2.5 GW of power as additional potential economic and social benefits of the flare gas commercialisation program.

Speaking about the bidding round, Engineer Komolafe stated that there are six acres on the continental shelf, four deep offshore blocks, and two onshore blocks in the Niger Delta that are up for grabs. 

He clarified that the Commission had implemented regulations to create an environment favourable to investment by guaranteeing regulatory certainty, removing entry barriers, and fostering global competitiveness.

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

He stated that technical proficiency, financial capability, and viability are a few of the requirements needed to obtain the blocks.

Also, he revealed that the Commission's revenue in 2023 was N4.344 trillion, a 15% rise over 2022's N3.78 trillion.

According to the CCE, as of April 25, 2024, Nigeria's daily production output of condensates and crude oil was 1,532,530 barrels.

He claims the commission has proposed increasing the nation's crude oil output.

These include timely approvals of Field Development Plans; adoption of new technologies (IOR/ EOR); reduction of unit technical cost; production optimisation: ensuring wells are tested periodically and produced at optimal rates; transparency in hydrocarbon metering & accounting; vacating entry barriers including huge front-loaded entry fees, regulatory bottlenecks etc; identifying candidate wells for workover and interventions; effective performance monitoring of work program obligations; as well as monitoring financial viability as reported.

The executive secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, gave a speech during the dialogue. He explained that important decision-makers from Nigeria's extractive industries and related sectors will be present to discuss issues relevant to and of interest to the industry.