Waltersmith Petroman, Niger Delta Petroleum Resources (NDPR), and Oranto Petroleum, all Nigerian independents, have been awarded two acreages in Uganda.
Waltersmith won the Turaco shallow and deep acreage. NDPR was paired with Oranto for the Ngassa block.
The Nigerian companies are the only proven hydrocarbon producers of all the seven companies which made the final list for the six blocks.
The others: Armour Energy Limited of Australia, Rift Energy Corporation of Canada, Glint Energy LLC of USA and Swala Energy Ltd of Australia, largely own exploration acreages.
Uganda announced its first competitive bidding round for the six exploration blocks, including Mvule, Taitai & Karuka, Ngassa, Turaco, Kanywantaba and Ngaji, covering a total of 3,000 square kilometres, in February 2015. Bidding documents were issued to 16 oil firms in October 2015.
In March 2016, the country announced the list of companies which had turned in bids.
There are two matters arising from the award of these assets to the three Nigerian companies.
