Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, H.E. Timipre Sylva, has earned President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval to schedule a bidding round for the country’s marginal fields and may launch in two weeks.
Marginal fields in Nigeria apply to discoveries produced by major oil firms that are undeveloped, either due to distance from current production facilities, low reserves or potentially low quantities of output due to issues of flow control. Bidders will have 56 fields located on land, swamp and shallow water terrains to choose from.
The Ministry of Petroleum in Abuja and Lagos say the whole process could be concluded in six weeks. “The data prying and other items can take place within that time”, sources say, “and they can happen digitally.”
The last marginal field bid round was conducted in 2002. Twenty-four fields were given to 32 companies, in 2003. Nigeria has been planning for a marginal field round of bidding for more than 10 years.