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Nigeria’s DPR shortlists 161 firms

in Marginal Oilfield Bid Round

NIGERIA NIGERIA’S Department of Petroleum the upstream segment of the industry and pro-
Resources (DPR) has indicated that it is ready to vide opportunities for technical and financial
move on to the next stage of its Marginal Oilfield partnerships for investors,” he commented.
Bid Round. The current Marginal Oilfield Bid Round is
Speaking at the end of December, Paul Osu, only the second of its kind. The first took place
the DPR’s head of public affairs, said that 161 in 2003. According to Osu, the 16 licence areas
of the 600-plus companies that had applied for involved in the first auctions account for around
pre-qualification to participate in the tender 2% of Nigeria’s total crude oil and natural gas
would proceed in the bidding contest. “The cur- reserves. The development projects resulting
rent status is that 161 successful companies have from these contests have given a boost to the
been shortlisted to advance to the next and final economies of nearby communities in the Niger
stage of the process,” he said. River Delta, he added. ™
Osu did not name any of the shortlisted bid-
ders for the 57 licence areas covered by the auc-
tions. However, he declared that his department
had taken steps to ensure that all companies that
reached the final stage of the contest were cred-
ible candidates with the technical and financial
capabilities needed to develop the fields involved
in the contest.
As of press time, the DPR had not said when
it hoped to wrap up the licensing round, which
was launched on June 1, 2020. Osu stressed,
though, that the auctions were “still ongoing in
line with our published timelines on [the] DPR
website and bid portal.”
He also reiterated that DPR saw the auctions
as a means of building up the capacity of Nige-
ria’s domestic oil operators. “The objective of the
2020 Marginal Field Bid Round was to deepen
the participation of indigenous companies in The licensing round covers 57 marginal fields (Image: PGS)

ANPG to launch onshore

bidding round on April 30

ANGOLA ANGOLA’S National Oil, Gas and Biofuels firms would have to pay an entry fee. The bid-
Agency (ANPG) has set a new date for the ding round “has [as] a mandatory condition of
launch of its next onshore licensing round, participation the payment of an entry fee in the
which had originally been due to take place in amount of $1mn, which will allow access to the
May 2020. data packages related to the basins to bid,” it said
Late last month, the concessionaire revealed in a statement. According to previous reports,
that it had committed to a start date of April 30, these packages include a recently updated geo-
2021, or 120 days after December 31, 2020, for logical map and database of the onshore Kwanza
the auctions, which cover nine onshore blocks in Basin, 2D seismic coverage from the Lower
the Lower Congo Basin and the Kwanza Basin. Congo Basin and a compilation of recently
It said it would accept offers until June 9, 2021, acquired aeromagnetic coverage from the tran-
and would open the bids on the following day. sition zone and shallow waters of the Lower
ANPG further stated that all participating Congo and Kwanza basins.

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