By Adedapo Adesanya
The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has disclosed that it is expecting the first production of crude oil from some of the recently awarded 57 marginal oilfields in January 2022.
This was disclosed by the Director, DPR, Mr Sarki Auwalu during a strategic engagement session with the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) in Lagos.
Mr Auwalu said the 2020 marginal oilfield bid round was almost at the completion stage with successful companies paying their signature bonuses.
He said the award of the marginal oilfield would increase Nigeria’s oil and gas production capacity and reserves to boost the country’s resources for national development.
Mr Auwalu said the bid round, which began on June 1, 2020, was aimed at deepening the participation of indigenous companies in the upstream segment of the industry.
According to him, it will also provide opportunities for technical and financial partnerships for investors.
The director said some of the indigenous companies that emerged from previous marginal oilfield bid rounds were today competing with international oil companies, which was very good for the nation.
Mr Auwalu further said the DPR generated about N452 billion for the federal government from January to March 2021, adding that the regulatory agency was targeting an additional N900 billion for the months of April to June.
According to him, the department operates a cashless revenue system that enables all revenue remittances to be paid directly to the federation account in total compliance with the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy of the government.
Mr Auwalu noted that transparency and accountability were critical to sustaining the industry and assured NEITI of the DPR’s support towards its mandate.
On his part, the Executive Secretary, NEITI, Mr Ogbonnaya Orji requested closer collaboration and technical support from the DPR to improve transparency in the oil and gas industry.
Mr Orji said NEITI was committed to ending Nigeria’s ‘resource cause’ which had led to poverty, insecurity, poor economy and hopelessness following years of mismanagement.
He said, “It didn’t start today but it will be better if we show concern on how we utilise our resources.”
“A lot has changed through the activities of NEITI and its reports but a lot still needs to be done because transparency in our extractive industry is very critical,” Mr Orji added.
