The Nigerian government, through the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), has offered in addition to the 2024 licencing rounds, all blocks available in the 2022/23 bid to investors.
This was disclosed by Gbenga Komolafe, the Commission Chief Executive, NUPRC, in a document ‘update on the 2022/2023 and 2024 Licencing Rounds’ issued to journalists in Abuja.
According to him, the move is aimed at promoting equity and fair play, to give all investors the same opportunity to bid for the assets, since the criteria for the award of the oil blocks are now much more attractive than they initially were during the 2022/23 Mini Bid Round.
The Commission had offered some deep offshore blocks for the 2022/23 Mini Bid Round. Also, other blocks which cut across onshore, continental shelf and deep offshore terrains were put on offer for the Nigeria 2024 Licencing Round.
Komolafe explained that to vacate entry barriers, president Tinubu approved attractive fiscal regimes and also minimised entry fees for both licencing rounds by putting a cap on the signature bonus payable for the award of the acreages.
“Consequently, it is necessary to ensure that the same bid criteria (in addition to the uniform signature bonus criteria) are applicable for both licencing rounds, to promote transparency and provide a level playing ground for all bidders.
“All blocks in the 2022/23 and 2024 Licencing Rounds are available to all interested investors on br.nuprc.gov.ng and br2024.nuprc.gov.ng respectively, and the 2022/23 Mini Bid Round registration phase is reopened to new applicants.
“The public is therefore invited to take advantage of this development and attractive entry terms and conditions and participate in the exercise.”
He however announced that all the prequalified Applicants published on the 2022/23 Mini Bid Round portal will not be required to go through a new pre-qualification process, as their technical submissions remain valid and eligible even for the 2024 Licencing Round.
According to the CCE, applicants may however wish to resubmit new Commercial Bids to take advantage of the more attractive criteria applicable to both licencing rounds and revise their Bid Bonds to adapt to the new bid criteria.
“They are also free to bid for blocks on offer in the 2024 Licencing Round,” he added.
Komolafe said that as a result of additional data acquired in respect of deep offshore blocks, the Commission has added seventeen (17) deep offshore blocks to the 2024 Licensing Round. Further details on the blocks can be found on the bid portal.
The Commission also amended the 2024 licencing round schedule, stating that regegistratiosubmission of Pre-Qualification Documents which was initially scheduled to close on 25 June 2024 has been extended by 10 days and will now close on 5 July 2024.
Also, Data Access/ Data Purchase/Evaluation/Bid Preparation and Submission which was initially scheduled to open on 4 July 2024 and close on 29/11/24 will now start on 8 July 2024 and close on 29/11/24 as previously scheduled.
“All other dates in the published 2024 Licencing Round Schedule remain the same unless otherwise communicated.
“By the published guidelines, we had earlier indicated that some of the assets on offer should be applied for as clusters, namely: PPL 300-CS & PPL 301-CS, PPL 2000 and PPL 2001.
Bidders are hereby advised that they may, at their option, bid for those blocks as clusters or as single units.
“For further clarification please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Sections of the 2022/23 and 2024 Licensing Round Portals. You may also contact us at br.nuprc.gov.ng, [email protected]”
