The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) yesterday disclosed that the process for the award of seven deep offshore oil blocks in the 2022/23 mini bid round would be concluded by April this year, a month before the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

The Commission Chief Executive, Engr. Gbenga Komolafe who stated this at the Pre-Bid Conference in Lagos, said the bidding process would be market driven.

The conference had the theme: “Growing Upstream Investment in Nigeria through Licensing Round: The Bid Process and Opportunities.”

Engr. Komolafe explained that the mini bid round which is the first in 15 years will have seven deep offshore open blocks (PPL-300-DO, PPL-301-DO, PPL-302-DO, PPL-303-DO, PPL-304-DO, PPL-305-DO & PPL-306-DO) on offer.

“These seven Deep Offshore blocks, covering an area of approximately 6,700 km2 in water depths of 1,150m to 3,100m, are on offer in this Mini Bid Round. These are intended to be the first in a series of bid rounds aimed at further development of our prospective petroleum basins. The bid rounds are within the context of our enhanced legal and regulatory frameworks, as enshrined in Section 73 of the PIA, which seeks to encourage new investors and investments into the next phase of oil and gas exploration in Nigeria.”

He added that “The Mini Bid Round is a market-driven programme expected to outperform the last bid round which was held in April 2007 during which a total of 45 blocks were put on offer under a different regulatory regime (the Petroleum Act, 1969). In line with the provisions of the PIA, the Mini Bid Round will be managed by the NUPRC, supported by its National Data Repository (NDR) and multi-client partners underpinned by high-quality datasets. The blocks on offer have extensive 2D and 3D seismic data coverage, including multi-beam and analog data. Additionally, a 3D MegaSurveyPlus reprocessed Pre-stack Time Migration of remarkable quality is also available to prospective bidders.”(Vanguard)