The Commission Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, has said that the Federal Government expects nothing less than 250,000 barrels per day of crude to the national production volume in the next five years from the about 22 awardees of the 2022/23 mini bid round and 2024 licensing round.
She spoke to journalists on Tuesday in Lagos on the sidelines of the onboard workshop for holders of Petroleum Prospecting Licenses(PPLS) organised by NUPRC.
She said the commission was committed to supporting the awardees to deliver on their expectations.
Eyesan said: “Our focus in organising this workshop is to put them on track so that they all start and within the three years, a couple of them should be coming up to first oil.
“For this set of awardees, we are expecting nothing less than 250,000 barrels in the next five years for about 22 awards that were issued.
“So we are sure that now that they’re starting on the right track, they will push the work programme and ensure that we achieve in the next five years.”
She also addressed concerns in the industry that some of the awardees that don’t have a track record and that some of them are even newly registered companies.
She said: “If you had taken time to look at our bidding guidelines, we were clear to the calibre of companies that could bid.
“Companies who have the right technical competencies, companies who have the right financial competencies as well to work the assets. We followed due process in evaluating the qualifications of these companies.
“So I can assure you that any company that was awarded the block had posited that they were technically competent and commercially competent to work the assets.
“And to that extent, they have won the block. Now that we are working the block, it’s our responsibility to ensure that they resource appropriately.”
She added: “And that is one of the reasons why we are having this workshop, to guide them and to support them in achieving their minimum, at least their minimum work programme at the very minimum.
“We are the foremost regulator in Africa. It’s our responsibility to grow the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
“We will continue to support our operators, our stakeholders at large, not only the operators, the service industry that supports the industry as well, and other regulatory bodies, ensure that we all work together to achieving the objectives.
“So we rest assured that the role of NUPRC is that of providing certainty for the awardees who are taking up this block.
“We will ensure that the guidelines, and that’s what we are doing today, the guidelines are very clear to everyone, and consistent across board.
“Not only are they going to be clear, they are also going to be business friendly.
“So when we see their bottlenecks, we are not shy to come back to the drawing board to see how we can unplug those bottlenecks. So as the foremost regulator, it’s our responsibility.”
Eyesan, has said that the Federal Government’s target of 3 million barrels per day of crude production will be a reality.
She said: “We’ve taken it as our mandate to ensure that the entire industry is appropriately submitted to deliver on the mandate. We are certain 3 million barrels by 2030 is a reality. And it is by doing what we are doing now, that we are sure that we will get there.
She said: “If you follow the bidding process, every awardee was given 90 days to pay their signature bonus, selling which it goes to the reserved bidder. So anyone who is issued a licence, I repeat, has met all the conditions for the award, including the payment of signature bonus.
“Anyone who has a licence in his hand has evidenced that they have met all the conditions. There are 22 of them here combining 2022/2023 mini bid round and 24 Licensing Round.”
