The federal government has revoked 33 marginal oil field contracts.
The Chief Executive,Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission(NUPRC),Mr Gbenga Komolafe made the disclosure at a meeting with marginal field awardees and leaseholders in Abuja.
He said the contracts were revoked because of the inability of the awardees to pay the expected signature bonuses for the 2020 marginal field bid round within the 45-day window.
According to him, the 2020 marginal field awards unveiled last May by the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) had 57 fields on offer with 665 companies indicating interest to acquire them.
He informed that 128 awardees have made signature bonus payments for the fields so far, adding that the commission has raked in about N174bn from the marginal oil field bid round programme.
“The marginal field guidelines provided for 45 days for the payment of signature bonus which has since elapsed, and we have issued a public notice to that effect as well as notified the relevant potential awardees”, he stated.
“It is pertinent to inform you that concerted efforts are being made to ensure that the 2020 MFBR exercise is completed within the shortest possible time”, Komolafe disclosed.
