After successful bidding of over 600 bidders that bid for the 57 marginal oil fields, the Nigerian government has announced the awards of 161 oil companies that won the bidding without revealing the names of the individual entities.
This was disclosed by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylvia, during the 2021 first quarter ministerial meeting of the executives of the agencies under the supervision of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources in Lagos on Tuesday, March 23.
The meeting was held to inform the executives about the outcome of the bidding process and also to announce the winners.
The Minister said the process has been concluded that people have started paying for their signature bonuses, stating that, over 50 percent of signature bonuses had been received.
The Minister, while describing the bidding process also said, “I think this is the best we could have gotten clearly. If you followed the processes, we published, people applied, companies were pre-qualified, and companies went to the data room and of course, assessment of their bids was done by competent people.
He added that “There were consultants involved in the whole process and bidders emerged, and that’s all I can say. It was a very transparent process and I think a lot of people are also hailing the process.”
However, Timipre Sylvia did not disclose the identities of the winners of the bid as he told Nigerians that the government has received almost 50 percent of the signature bonuses. He said, “One hundred and sixty-one companies were allocated marginal fields and I will not give you the details of how many have paid. I’ve told you that up to 50 percent of those winners have paid.”
The Minister while still speaking said, on the performance of the ministry since his assumption of office, the ministry, through its yearly assessment, had achieved six of the nine mandate areas. While also accused marketers of selling petrol above the approved price of N162 per liter, the minister described it as unfortunate and wondered what the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) was doing about it.
According to him, he said, “It’s unfortunate, we hear that. I should be asking what the DPR is doing about it. There is no fuel (price) increment, I’ve announced that. The price remains N162 per liter.”
He also said the government was still in discussion with labor and other stakeholders while stating that until all the discussions were concluded, the government would not fully deregulate.
The Minister also charged the agencies to ensure that deviant marketers were sanctioned.
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