ABUJA – The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Commission (NUPRC) has released the concession status of 243 oil blocks, maintaining that contrary to a recent newspaper report of abandoning some oil assets, nothing could be further from the truth.
The NUPRC said in a statement yesterday that this was done in the spirit of transparency as envisaged by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.
A report recent had insinuated that Nigeria currently has 220 open oil blocks scattered across its onshore and offshore basins, quoting data from the NUPRC.
It alleged that the deep offshore terrain accounts for the highest number of unlicensed blocks at 59, highlighting the country’s underexploited energy wealth in its most technically advanced but capital-intensive region.
The Benue Trough, it said, has 41 open blocks, while the Chad Basin hosts 40, even as the Sokoto Basin has 28 blocks yet to be awarded, and the Bida Basin has 16.
Besides, it stated that offshore Niger Delta still holds seven open blocks, while Anambra Basin has 13 open blocks, while eight each remain unlicensed in the Benin Basin and the onshore Niger Delta.
But the commission clarified that 220 oil blocks were not abandoned but simply awaiting concessions in line with Section 7(t) of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 which empowers the commission to conduct periodic licensing rounds and grant Petroleum Prospecting Licence (PPL) and Petroleum Mining Leases (PMLs) to prospective investors.
The commission further stated that the 220 oil blocks would be handed to concessionaires after periodic bid rounds and conditions had been met.
The Gbenga Komolafe-led upstream regulator said a trending report on the so-called abandoned oil blocks was a misinterpretation of the information that it had put up on its website.
While urging the media to be circumspect in its reportage and prioritise national interest, the upstream regulator advised members of the public to visit its website https://www.nuprc.gov.ng/ for accurate information on its activities.