By Udeme Akpan and Sebastine Obasi
The federal government on Wednesday cautioned against dormant oil blocks, with a stern warning that such licenses would be revoked.
Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, stated this at the Licensing Round Pre-bid Conference in Lagos.
He said, “Licenses are no longer status symbol. They belong to 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,” he warned.
Lokpobiri also explained that there will be no refund of bid fee or signature bonus.
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 commended President Bola Tinubu for approving the revision of the signature bonus.
The CCE also explained that Nigerian banks are critical to Nigeria’s oil industry and so 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 sites are in the Niger Delta. Four onshore each are in Anambra, Benue and Chad frontier basin, while one onshore is in the Benin frontier basin.
There is only one deep offshore in the Nigerian Delta basin.
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