By Macson Obojemie, in Lagos
The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Nigeria’s regulatory agency, is awaiting the approval of the Minister of Petroleum, to announce the results of the Marginal Fields bid round.
DPR concluded the analysis of the bids in the last two weeks and it has sent the results to the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, who is to deliver it to President Muhammadu Buhari, the country’s defacto Minister of Petroleum.
The three and half month-long bid round exercise featured 52 fields and was concluded on September 15, 2020.
It was heavily subscribed; the largest number of bid applications in any hydrocarbon licencing sale in Africa in close to 10 years.
While the round started with over 500 applications, it closed with at least 100 applications making it all the way, each delivering at least $115,000 to the Nigerian treasury in the process.
And there will be more money heading to those coffers; when the results are announced, wining bidders have to pay signature bonus before the final awards. Analysts expect some highly contested fields, like Egbolom, to attract north of $5Million as signature bonus.
Nigerian marginal fields bid round is restricted only to locals.
Most applicants in this round, the second such formal round of its type in 17 years, were Nigerian independents who already produce crude oil and gas and are seeking to expand their portfolios. Others were Nigerian oil service contractors who now feel they should take positions in hydrocarbon acreages. Fuller story on the Bid Round is published in the monthly Africa Oil+Gas Report.
This bid round, especially at the DPR review stage, has been frought with some irregularities. Some staff of the DPR’s review team have been alleged to have gone rogue, demanding bribes from bidders to ensure favourable analysis. Those who refused to pay where told that their submitted data was missing from the DPR systems (even with proof of submission), without any attempt to ask them to resubmit (assuming there were truly system errors), after collecting more than US$115,000 from them in fees. Affected bidders should submit petitions soon to the presidency, albeit the data analysis process at the DPR was supposed to be top secret.
Nigeria we hail thee. Pity!
It is not true that the exercise was marred with fraud as I have been in close communication with a lot of bidders. A lot of them testified that the process was seamless, transparent and provided a level-playing ground for all bidders irrespective of who they are or who they know to contest for the marginal fields up for bidding. It is unfair to brandish the exercise or staff of DPR as fraudulent without any strong evidence to back up your claims. Doing this will be tantamount to cheap blackmail that will not do a lot of good to investor confidence in the industry.
Tinha certeza que a base de todos os problemas enfrentados nos países africanos são a ganância de líderes corruptos e novos colonizadores. NOJO destes líderes nacionais que presam seus luxos e deixam população na miséria. Que os protestos coloquem o país no lugar. Fora ladrões, exploradores,
There is every indication that the marginal fields has been awarded.