Yemisi Izuora
Oil major, Chevron appeared the most high-profile winner in Nigeria’s latest licensing round, which was wrapped up on Tuesday evening.
The US supermajor was one of 31 companies, nearly all of them indigenous, which succeeded in being awarded 37 of the 50 blocks on offer in a commercial bid opening event held in Abuja on Tuesday that lasted the entire working day, albeit with a break for lunch.
A total of 143 companies submitted 200 bids for 37 blocks in the proven onshore, shallow-water and deep-water Niger Delta plays as well as four frontier onshore basins — Benin, Anambra Chad and Benue Trough. A total of 13 of the tracts on offer failed to attract interest.
The event was organised by the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), which pointed out that these frontier plays attracted an unprecedented level of investor interest.
In a competition to secure Petroleum Prospecting Licence (PPL) 2010, Chevron got the better of a rival bidder to secure a block it knows well.
This acreage lies in water depths of 200 to 700 metres and is fully covered by 3D seismic acquired years ago by Chevron.
The PPL 2010 is located close to Chevron’s big Agbami field and its Ikija discovery, which could be appraised this year.