New Telegraph

DPR disqualifies over 400 firms in oil blocs bid round

161 companies now in race for 57 marginal fields

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has disqualified 439 firms as bid round for marginal oil fields entered the final stage. Over 600 companies applied for pre-qualification, but spokesman for the DPR, Mr. Paul Osu, who confirmed the screening in an interview with New Telegraph yesterday, declared that only 161 companies are now in race for the licensing round.

“One hundred and sixtyone successful companies have been shortlisted to advance to the next and final stage of the bid round process for 57 marginal oilfields in the country,” he said. Osu, who is the Head, Public Affairs of DPR, added that the firms were selected from the over 600 companies which applied for pre-qualification. Marginal field is any field that has reserves booked and reported annually to the DPR and has remained unproductive for a period of over 10 years. ”The 2020 marginal oilfield bid round process is still ongoing in line with our published timelines on DPR website and bid portal.

“The current status is that 161 successful companies have been shortlisted to advance to the next and final stage of the process,” Osu said. He maintained that the bid rounds began on June 1, adding that the DPR had put measures in place to ensure that the awardees would be credible investors with technical and financial capability.

According to him, the objective of the 2020 marginal field bid round is to deepen the participation of indigenous companies in the upstream segment of the industry and provide opportunities for technical and financial partnerships for investors. Osu said Nigeria last conducted marginal field bid rounds in 2003, with 16 of the fields now contributing two per cent to the national oil and gas reserves, while bringing development to their host communities in the Niger Delta.

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