Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, the Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil) said President Bola Tinubu has approved the sale of more oil and gas fields abandoned by the international oil companies, IOCs.
The President has given the green light for the conduct of a fresh marginal field bid for the gas fields which have been lying fallow for over a decade.
The minister disclosed during a facility tour of Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited’s modular refinery in Ibigwe, Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State, on Wednesday, noting that the bid exercise would commence soon.
According to Daily Post, the new bid round is coming barely three years after about 57 marginal oilfields were put up for sale in 2020 and the process effectively concluded last year, amid many of the awardees still struggling to move to the site for development of their assets due largely to funding and regulatory challenges.
“Marginal fields would (henceforth) be prioritised in terms of their location to those who have modular refineries so that they will be able to produce.”
The marginal field exercise is exclusively reserved for Nigerian companies as the federal government through the policy offers an opportunity to local firms to participate more actively in the country’s oil and gas exploration and production space.
