The government of Nigeria has finalised plans to auction deep offshore oil and gas licences for the first time in 15 years, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), has said.
The Chief Executive of the commission, Gbenga Komolafe, revealed this saying that Nigeria would launch a bidding round for seven deep-water blocks in November.
The last time the federal government issued dozens of such permits was between 1993 and 2007, and it was meant to open up the ocean floor to oil and gas production.
According to Komolafe, the blocks available are at depths of between about 1,200 meters (3,936 feet) and 3,100 metres.They are located off the city of Lagos, rather than off the coast of the Niger Delta further to the east where most of the country’s oil industry is concentrated
The decision to put up the assets for sale is coming months after the NUPRC concluded the disposal of 57 marginal fields after a long, winding process to ramp up the country’s struggling oil production efforts.
