DPR to release marginal fields timetable as encroachment claims being resolved

The controversial listing of one of   Nigeria’s major oil  producer’s fields in the schedule of the marginal oil fields  bid rounds, appears to have been   responsible for the delay in the release of the timetable for the bid process, BusinessDay  can today reveal.

The timetable for the  process had been expected  for the  past  three months, following the  announcement for the bid process by Diezani Alison-Madueke, minister of Petroleum Resources.

But investors who have been eagerly awaiting  the timetable may soon heave a sigh of relief, as the Department of Petroleum Resources(DPR) promises to release it  this month.

With the release of the timetable, investors would have the opportunity to obtain more information in respect of the assets they intend to buy and also to know when the bids would hold.

George Osahon, director  of the Department of Petroleum  Resources (DPR)  who disclosed this to BusinnessDay, said the issue delaying  the release  of the timetable is expected to soon be resolved.

Osahon who confirmed that there was an issue with one of the fields, said it was being worked on and would soon be resolved. He said the time table would be release this month, even though he was not specific on the exact date.

He said he did not want a situation where some of the fields were isolated because there were issues around them, while the others were put on offer. “It would look as if there is an under the table dealing, and people may start thinking that they have given  them to some people”.

He said, “I want everything to be transparent.”

Some of the international oil companies were alleged to have complained of infringement on their fields and the DPR is trying to resolve the matter before it release the timetable, an industry source said.

Though Osahon did not mention the IOCs involved, unconfirmed sources said one of the companies complained  that three of its fields put on offer in its divestment programme were included in the marginal fields list.

Another  company  was said to have complained that one of the fields being put on offer was located right in the middle of its operations, and that this would have  environmental and security implications.

But the DPR director  who did not confirm this, only said that he wondered why a company which knew that the government had a marginal fields bid round programme since 2010 would suddenly wake up when the announcement  was made in 2013 to say it had reasons to object to the fields being listed in the exercise.

“I want to be convinced that the complaint which one of the companies made is genuine and the issue is thoroughly dealt with”, he said.

Prospective investors have been on edge because of  the uncertainty over when the  timetable and the list of marginal fields to be put on offer in the next licensing round would be released.

The situation has led to rumours in the  industry that  some of the 31  fields have already been given out to certain individuals  that are close to the powers that be.

It was also gathered that among the 31 fields on the list are Uzuaku field on Oil Mining Lease (OML) 11 in Ogoni land, the Egbolom field on OML 23 that was previously operated by Shell in Rivers State, three offshore fields on OML 100 (Usoro, Ikong, Ibiom) and two on OML 67 (Amaniba and Ekpat).

By:  Olusola Bello