FG, Oil blocs licensing will end in April.

The Federal Government has on Monday, announced that the licensing round for seven deep offshore open oil blocs, which took off on January 3, 2023, was scheduled to last for four months.



FG invited investors from across the world with capability and experience in deep water operations to embrace the fiscal provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 and join in bidding for the oil blocs.



Gbenga Komolafe, the Chief Executive, Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, disclosed this in Lagos at the pre-bid conference for the 2022/2023 licensing round of petroleum prospecting licences in deep offshore Nigeria.



The pre-bid conference was held following the announcement of the 2022/2023 mini-bid round exercise on December 22, 2022.



At the conference, which had its theme as “Growing Upstream Investment in Nigeria through Licencing Round: The Bid Process and Opportunities,” Komolafe said the approval of the exercise by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), was the first in the last 15 years.



In his speech in Abuja, the NUPRC boss explained the commission had announced the commencement and launched the bid round portal which was officially opened on January 3, 2023.



“The exercise will last for approximately four months along the following processes: registration and pre-qualification, data prying/purchase, technical bid submission/presentation, technical bid evaluation, and commercial bid conference,” he stated.



He remarked that in compliance with the provisions of the PIA 2021 and regulations made pursuant to the Act, the commission issued a licensing round guideline and published a licensing round plan for a total of seven deep offshore open blocs.



Listing the blocks, he said that it includes PPL-300-DO, PPL-301-DO, PPL-302-DO, PPL-303-DO, PPL-304-DO, PPL-305-DO and PPL-306-DO.



The Chief Executive said, “The seven deep offshore blocks, covering an area of approximately 6,700 km2 in water depths of 1,150m to 3,100m, are on offer in this mini-bid round.