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Yemisi Izuora
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), says about 30 marginal fields would soon be put on offer to prospecting oil companies.
Marginal fields are oil wells previously held by oil majors but considered non prolific and commercially non viable.
The NNPC which gave indication that government would soon flag off the exercise said it has become imperative for Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG) to participate in the forthcoming bid round in which about 30 marginal oil fields would be offered to the public.
The Group Managing Director of the Corporation, Dr. Maikanti Baru, gave this charge when he received a delegation of IPPG led by its chairman, Engr. Ademola Adeyemi-Bero, where he also urged them to take advantage of the low crude oil price regime to develop their capacity and acquire technology.
Dr. Baru stated that there were lots of opportunities in the marginal fields which would soon be available urging the IPPG to work hand-in-hand with the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to ensure that they met the conditions that would be required from bidders.
“The marginal oil field lease renewal is an opportunity for your group. You will need to engage the DPR early in discussion to find out the conditions that the Federal Government is interested in. For example, the supply of gas to power plants and fertilizer plants and I think your group will be successful,” Dr. Baru advised.
The NNPC GMD also tasked the IPPG members to ramp up their collective production from 10 per cent of national production to fifty per cent in the next 10 years in order to increase the footprint of indigenous companies in the upstream sub-sector as is the case in the downstream.
The NNPC helmsman stated that the Corporation was passionate about collaborating with the indigenous producers in order to grow their capacity and participation in the exploration and production sub-sector in line with government’s local content policy.
He said the Corporation was very proud of them and was looking forward to a time when about ninety per cent of upstream operations in the country would be controlled by them.
Dr. Baru applauded members of the group for their productive community engagement which had stemmed the incidence of pipeline sabotage along the Trans Forcados Pipeline and enjoined them to extend similar gesture to the communities around the other crude oil lines to help stabilize national production.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Group, Engr. Adeyemi-Bero, who made a presentation to the NNPC management, said the group was made up of twenty five active indigenous producers and driven by the passion to support the 12 Business Focus Areas of the current management of NNPC and the Seven Big Wins of the Federal Government.
The Chairman praised the Federal Government for initiating the Joint Venture cash call exit programme, stressing that the move would bolster their activities in the upstream sub-sector.
The IPPG was formed a year ago with the mandate to promote and advance the collective interest of members in a coordinated manner as a unified advocacy platform for Federal Government policies in the upstream sub-sector of the oil and gas industry.