The Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has set a June timeline for the issuance of Petroleum Prospecting Licence (PPL) to the operators of the 54 marginal oil field areas already delineated by the federal government for petroleum operations to commence.
The Chief Executive of NUPRC, Engr Gbenga Komolafe, said the commission would also in this month engage the stakeholders for inputs and seek alignment.
He spoke in Lagos during the just concluded Arbiterz Marginal Field Conference, tagged: “From Licence to Oil: Fundraising for Marginal Fields”.
The defunct Department for Petroleum Resources (DPR), had in 2020 carried out a bid round for 57 marginal fields with 591 applications. As the government reaches a close, some stakeholders insist it should be reversed due to the high bidding cost.
For instance, Subsurface Manager, Energy and Mineral Resources Limited, Mr Collins Ibekwe, said: “Those who put the process together were not long term focused; they were too short term focused, but it will not be too late to say, let’s reserve this process, let’s return this money.
“You may say, my interest is to raise money for the government, but is that an optimal expectation? Should it not be better for the expectation to be, let’s grow new businesses; let’s grow these marginal fields and have many new indigenous operators that are capable.”
However, the NUPRC CEO represented by the Head, Basinal Assessment and Lease Administration of the commission, Edu Iyang, said while the commission understands that funding is a critical success factor in bringing the fields to production, it had identified various funding options backed by the section 95 (5) of PIA and that operators and investors utilise them.
“This provision has provided a safety net for the financiers to provide funds for the development of oil and gas assets in Nigeria. The marginal field operators can therefore leverage on this provision to raise funds for their operations,” he noted.
The founder, Arbiterz, Dr Abimbola Agboluaje, noted that production from marginal fields could easily close this shortfall and boost indigenous entrepreneurial, managerial and fund-raising capabilities in Nigeria’s oil sector as the international oil companies carried out major divestments.
