By Mordi Chukwunonso Esther
On the current marginal field bid round which 161 companies have been shortlisted for the final stage by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Federal Government is to earn about N7.9 billion.
The DPR had announced on June 1, 2020 the start of the 2020 Marginal Field Bid Round, which ‘is open to indigenous companies and investors interested in participating in the exploration and production business in Nigeria’. DPR disclosed that 57 marginal fields were available, with data from the agency showing that applicants would pay fees totaling N49.09m per field (comprising N5.5m and $115,000).
According to the agency, a marginal field is any field that has been discovered and has been left unattended for a period of not less than 10 years, from the date of first discovery, or such field as the President may, from time to time, identify as a marginal field.
With each of the 161 finalists paying just for one marginal field, the government would earn N7.9bn. The revenue will be much higher when the fees paid by applicants who did not qualify for the final stage and the signature bonuses to be paid by the successful bidders are added to it.
According to the DPR’s guidelines, applicable fees are N500,000 for registration; N2m for application; N3m for bid processing; $15,000 for data prying; $25,000 for data leasing; $50,000 for competent persons’ report, and $25,000 for field-specific report.
“In addition to the above-listed fees, the signature bonus shall be paid by successful bidders prior to award,” the DPR said.
According to the guidelines, registration, application and processing fees are to be paid into the Treasury Single Account; the fees for data leasing, data prying, CPR and field-specific report are to be paid into the National Data Repository account, and signature bonuses to be paid into the Federation Account.
DPR asserted earlier this month that 161 successful companies had been shortlisted to advance to the next and final stage of the bid round.
The Head of Public Affairs, DPR, Mr Paul Osu, was reported to have said that the firms were selected from the over 600 companies that applied for pre-qualification.
“The 2020 marginal oilfield bid round process is still ongoing in line with our published timelines on DPR website and bid portal,” he was quoted as saying.
DPR had put measures in place to ensure that the awardees would be credible investors with technical and financial capability.
According to the DPR, the bid round is aimed at growing production capacity by expanding the scope of participation in Nigeria’s petroleum sector, and increasing oil and gas reserves base through aggressive exploration and development effort.
Other objectives include to promote indigenous participation in the sector, thereby fostering technological transfer, and to provide opportunity to gainfully engage the pool of high level technically competent Nigerians in the sector.
These objectives have always been the drive and aspirations of the Director of DPR, Engr. Sarki Auwalu to ensure local participation in the oil sector.
