Bid for gas flare sites, FG extends deadline

As Senate seeks end to gas flaring, laments N217bn loss

The Federal Government has extended the deadline given to shortlisted investors to bid for gas flare sites in the country to April 10, 2020.

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), in a statement on Thursday, disclosed this, adding that the bid submission due date of the request for proposal had been extended by six weeks.

Recall that, the DPR had announced on February 17, 2020, that 200 investors had been shortlisted to bid for the gas flare sites after the evaluation of statements of qualification submitted by interested companies.

It said 45 gas flare sites would be put up for auction in the first phase of the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme.

The regulator said, “Sequel to the bidder’s conference, which held on February 17, 2020, in respect of the Nigeria Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme bid process, please be informed that the Bid Submission Due Date of the Request for Proposal has been extended by six weeks. Accordingly, the new submission due date shall be April 10, 2020.”

The DPR said it would provide relevant updates for data prying and leasing in the data room as necessary within the next one week.

It stated further, “Also, in a bid to further incentivise the programme, the minimum floor price for flare gas shall be: $0.25 per 1,000 standard cubic feet for land sites; $0.15 per 1,000scf for swamp and shallow offshore sites, and $0.10 per 1,000scf for deep offshore.

“Finally, qualified applicants who are interested in embarking on flare site visit(s) are advised to contact the Department of Petroleum Resources through info@ngfcp.gov.ng and ensure that due diligence is carried out before the Bid Submission Due Date.”

According to the DPR, the programme implementation commenced in earnest in October 2018 when it placed adverts for expression of interest from investors.

In a related development, The Senate on Thursday lamented the nation’s huge revenue loss due to gas flaring and pledged to end the economic waste with appropriate legislation.

The red chamber took the decision following a discussion on the lead debate on gas flaring prohibition and punishment, sponsored by Senator Akpan Bassey.

The red chamber noted with concern that the N217bn lost in revenue to gas flaring in 2018 was capable of bringing desired development to the country.

Bassey said the bill was passed by the 8th Senate in 2018 but was not concurred to by the 8th House of Representatives.

He said, “Available data from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has shown that in 2018, Nigeria lost over N 217bn in revenue as oil and gas companies flared a total of N244.84bn standard cubic feet of natural gas within the same period.

“With the average price of natural gas put at $2.90 per 1,000 scf as of February 16, 2017, the 244.84 billion scf flared translates to a loss of $710m or N217bn (using the official exchange rate of N305.25/ dollar).”