FG harps on getting first oil from new marginal fields next year

The Federal Government has harped on getting first oil from the marginal fields effective next year.

The Director, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mr. Sarki Auwalu, made the disclosure during a strategic engagement session  with the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), chaired by its Executive Secretary, Mr. Orji Ogbonnaya-Orji, in Lagos.

Auwalu noted that the government was already taking advantage of the success of the programme.

“Investors are rushing to invest in all the 57 fields on offer. We want to grow the reserves because the growth of the reserves gives us global competitiveness.

“OPEC will only give you volumes based on your recoverable reserves. We have to grow our reserves, and growing the reserves means more competitiveness for our nation.

“This is where we are: the issuance of the awards to the marginal field bidders – the awardees. And already, we see investment coming. Once we form the SPVs (special purpose vehicles) for field development, you can see capital inflow into Nigeria, and definitely, we see a very bright future. Then, we expect to add more volumes because it is a game of number,” Auwalu said.

The DPR, he added, knows the volume every oil and gas well in the country produces.

According to him; “we give the technical production allowable for each well. We test every well and record it. So, we know where we are getting our volumes between now and 2024.

“We expect first oil from most of the marginal fields, for which we just concluded bid round, around January 2022 because all the things that will retard them will go, and we need that money for the country”.

In June 1, 2020, the DPR, had announced the start of the 2020 Marginal Field Bid Round with 57 fields available for indigenous firms and investors interested in participating in the exploration and production business in Nigeria.

The oil and gas sector regulator in April 2021 stated that 161 companies had been shortlisted to advance to the final stage of the bid round.

On refining revolution Auwalu said: “We have Dangote refinery coming up; we have BUA refinery. In fact, by 2024/2025, we may have domestic refining capacity of about two million barrels per day, with NNPC refinery volumes of 445,000bpd, Dangote’s 650,000bpd and BUA’s 200,000bpd and others combined”.