Nigeria launched this week a new oil and gas licensing round, inviting bids for as many as 12 onshore and offshore blocks and promising transparency in the bidding process.
At the ongoing Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, Texas, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) announced the start of the 2024 Licensing Round.
During his speech at OTC to announce the bidding round, the commission’s chief executive Gbenga Komolafe “reiterated Nigeria’s commitment to advancing its oil and gas sector and highlighted incentives by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s leadership aimed at attracting the attention and involvement of international investors,” NUPRC said in a statement on Wednesday.
“While acknowledging the changing dynamics of the energy landscape, the CCE observed that Nigeria has adopted a pragmatic approach, ensuring competitive entry fees and commercial viability for investment,” the commission added.
International majors have shrunk their exposure to Nigeria’s energy sector in recent years, with transparency in the licensing round one of the reasons for
Big Oil to divest from their Nigerian assets, on top of oil theft and frequent pipeline damages that lead to force majeure on crude oil exports.
Nigeria has been seeking in recent months to address these concerns and NUPRC’s Komolafe said in Houston that this year’s licensing round is “expected to be a huge success for Nigeria and is a big step towards growing the nation’s oil and gas reserves through aggressive exploration and development efforts, boosting production, expanding opportunities for gas utilization.”
Africa’s biggest oil producer, Nigeria, aims to boost its crude oil production in the coming months and years.
Nigerian oil production has started to recover in recent months and hit in February its highest level in more than three years amid a concerted effort to crack down on targeted attacks and organized theft rings.
Earlier this year, NUPRC said that Nigeria’s crude oil reserves had increased by 1 billion barrels while natural gas reserves have jumped by 2.573 trillion cubic feet (TCF).