As investors prepare to register for the 2024 Licensing Round, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission has deleted five oil blocks from the present licensing round due to legal disputes.
The five oil blocks are alleged to be involved in separate lawsuits, according to The PUNCH.
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission confirmed the development.
The affected assets are PPL3008, PPL3009, PML51, PPL267, and PPL268.
According to earlier reports, the five blocks were among the 12 initially announced by the NUPRC Chief Executive, Gbenga Komolafe, at the Miami International Roadshow for the 2024 licensing round hosted by the NUPRC in collaboration with the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria and Zetse Advisory & Consulting.
The 12 oil blocks initially listed by Komolafe were PPL 300-CS; PPL 301-CS; PPL 3008; PPL 3009; PPL 2001; PPL 2002; PML 51; PPL 267; PPL 268; PPL 269; PPL 270; and PPL 271.
However, while stating that the assets on offer will be raised, the NUPRC stated that five others had been deleted due to legal issues.
“Due to newly acquired data from the Multiclients, the Assets on offer in the ongoing Licencing Round will be increased.
“However, PPL3008, PPL3009, PML51, PPL267, PPL268 have been removed from the Bid process due to ongoing litigation,” the NUPRC said in a notice.
“Also, in accordance with the published guidelines, we have earlier indicated that some of the assets on offer should be applied as a single unit, namely: PPL 300-CS & PPL.
Officials of the commission did not answer to our inquiry about the litigants and the reasons for the dispute.
“Meanwhile, the NUPRC boss had in a statement announced the addition of 17 deep offshore oil blocks to the 2024 licensing round.
“In pursuit of the commission’s commitment to derive value from the country’s abundant oil and gas reserves and increase production, the commission has been working assiduously with multi-client companies to undertake more exploratory activities to acquire more data to foster and encourage further investment in the Nigerian upstream sector.
“As a result of additional data acquired in respect of deep offshore blocks, the commission has added 17 deep offshore blocks to the 2024 Licensing Round,” Komolafe said in a statement recently.
