The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission has expressed readiness to unveil its policy guidelines for the marginal field bid round.
This follows the issuance of award letters to investors for the production of crude oil from 57 marginal fields by the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources in May 2021.
Gbenga Komolafe, chief executive officer of the commission, in a statement, has announced that the unveiling of the policy would promote effective and efficient exercise in line with the programme guidelines and in compliance with the Petroleum Industry Act 2021.
He said, “The objective of the engagement forum is to state the policy position of the commission for the marginal field bid round.”
Read also: Analysts expect oil to breach $100 in 2022
“This is to enable progress of the exercise in line with the programme guidelines and in compliance with the Petroleum Industry Act 2021.
“The forum will also appraise, distill and clarify issues associated with the MFBR and provide relevant updates on status to all stakeholders in line with the transparency policy of the government.”
According to him, the policy will be made available to all eligible awardees and relevant international oil companies associated with the MFBR.
In an earlier notice, the commission had noted that “Participating interest for fields where the potential awardees have failed to pay all the required signature bonus will be pro-rated adding that the portion not paid for has automatically reverted to the bid basket and will be offered to reserve bidders, in line with paragraph 9(iii) of the MFBR Guidelines.
“This is to ensure maximum participation of a wide cross section of Nigerians. Eligible reserve bidders will be contacted shortly to provide proof of funds for payment of the applicable signature bonus, as a basis for the issuance of potential award letters for the equity participation taken back into the bid basket.”
