Nigerian oil license sale garners a lot of interest, according to the regulator

Due to strong interest in the offer, Nigeria is extending the deadline for concluding the exercise and increasing the number of oil blocks scheduled for sale in its 2024 licensing cycle, the oil regulator told Reuters on Thursday.

Nigeria invited investors to apply for licenses in April, offering a total of 19 onshore and deepwater oil blocks. This has now been extended to the 2024 licensing round to include 17 more deep offshore blocks.

“In order to increase the offer and prolong the deadline, we have increased our exploratory efforts and gathered additional data as a result. Investor interest has increased significantly as a result, according to Gbenga Komolafe, head of the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).

The registration period, which was originally scheduled to finish on June 25th, has been extended by ten days, according to Komolafe. The deadline for submitting bids is November 29; the deadline is July 8.

The nation’s estimated reserves of 209.26 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 37.5 billion barrels of crude oil are being further explored by the oil regulator.

It has made an effort to sweeten the deal by lowering the signature bonus entry costs from around $200 million per field to $10 million, promising a transparent and equitable procedure, and enabling online submissions via its website. Additionally, bidders can choose to lease oil blocks individually or in groups.

By making it easier to get oil blocks, Nigeria hopes to stop the flow of capital to its rivals in Africa, Angola and Namibia.

Nigeria, one of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members, now produces slightly more than 1.4 million barrels of oil per day, down from about 2 million barrels a decade ago.

Oil corporations are shifting their attention to deepwater fields, where disruptions are less frequent, and neglecting onshore fields, which are vulnerable to sabotage and numerous claims for compensation for spills.