By Udeme Akpan & Sebastine Obasi
The Federal Government is set to revoke the licenses of some oil blocks in the country over delays in development of the oil blocks by the license holders.
Confirming this yesterday at the Licensing Round Pre-bid Conference in Lagos, Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, added that there will be no refund of bid fee or signature bonus following the revocation.
He stated further: “Licenses are no longer status symbol. They belong to the government. Every licensee must develop the assets within the given time frame.
“Some licensees have held their licenses for 20 years without developing their assets. Such will not be tolerated any longer.”
According to him, post-bid adjustment is not provided for in the bid round, as investors are cautioned to adhere strictly to the guidelines.
“Nigeria is a mature field. That’s why investors want to invest in the country’s hydrocarbon, “he added.
Also speaking, Commission Chief Executive, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, stated that many of the blocks on offer were recovered through the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA.
She said: “Nigeria should be seen as the preferred investment destination in Africa. It is noteworthy that the number of indigenous producers has increased appreciably.”
She also explained that Nigerian banks are critical to Nigeria’s oil industry and enjoined investors to always liaise with them appropriately while embarking on the licensing round.
A total of 50 blocks are on offer for bid, 16 onshore and 18 shallow water blocks are in the Niger Delta. Four onshore blocks, each, are in Anambra, Benue and Chad frontier basins, while one onshore block is in the Benin frontier basin. There is only one deep offshore block in the Niger Delta basin.
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