NUPRC offers 12 oil blocks to investors

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, Monday, said that it has commenced the process for the 2024 oil bid round with 12 oil blocks on offer and seven deep offshore blocks from last year’s bid round.

Engr. Gbenga Komolafe, who is the commission chief executive, disclosed this at the inaugural NEITI House Dialogue in Abuja.

He said the process will be concluded by January next year.

The new green field oil blocks on offer include six acreages located on continental shelf, four deep offshore blocks and two onshore blocks in the Niger Delta, he said.

Komolafe said that the commission has put in place regulations to create a conducive investment environment by ensuring regulatory certainty, vacating entry barriers and promoting global competitiveness.

He said: “The licencing round that we are putting in place is designed to enhance the quality data set and it is going to be conducted in a fair, and competitive bidding process in a non-discriminating manner”.

He also disclosed that the Commission generated N4.344 trillion in revenues in 2023, a rise of 15 percent from N3.78 trillion generated in 2022.

Speaking at the dialogue, the Executive Secretary, Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, Dr Orji Ogbonnaya Orji explained that the NEITI House Quarterly Dialogue will host notable policy makers in Nigeria’s extractive industries and related sectors, who will address issues that are of interest and topical to the industry.