Lagos, Southwestern Nigeria – The Petroleum Regulatory Commission NUPRC has threatened to revoke the licenses of oil blocks that have yet to commence exploration in the country.
Oil block owners who failed to deliver or commence operations will lose their license, NUPRC chief executive officer, Mr. Gbenga Komolafe, announced in Lagos on Friday, 20 December 2024.
Mr. Komolafe, cautious owners of the oil blocks at the 2024 licensing rounds commercial bid conference, were the winners of the bid that were announced.
According to him, considering the crucial advantage of the oil blocks, which are national assets, Nigeria can’t afford to see them not functioning.
“There are provisions in the petroleum industry Acts that mandate every oil block owner to ensure swift operations and not to remain idle after proper licensing, so we are going to ensure strict compliance with the Act.
I would like to announce that we have launched a drill-or-drop mechanism, where we intend to revoke the licenses of idle oil blocks and reissue them to interested bidders in the next licensing rounds”. Mr. Komolaf maintained.
However, I will announce that the 2024 licensing rounds exercise is unique since it was the first after the industry Act was enacted in the year 2022.
Such will yield a result where Nigeria will have the opportunity to increase productivity, attract more investors, and unlock its hydrocarbon potentials for more revenue generation.
Mr. Komolafe further revealed that a total of 30 oil fields were publicly announced, but only 25 were successfully acquired, as 5 were unsuccessfully acquired.
Therefore, the commission has already started making arrangements for the year 2025 exercise bid rounds so as to retrieve nonfunctional locks.
Mr. Komolafe revealed that Nigeria is committed to UN sustainable goals; hence, the Commission would embark on another bid round in 2025 to enable it to retrieve non-performing blocks. He added
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