Reps to investigate award of marginal oil fields licences, proceeds
The House of Representatives on Thursday, resolved to investigate the processes of marginal oil fields license acquisition and the financial proceeds from successful bids, remittances and non – remittances of revenue by the licensed oil exploration operators into the federation accounts.
Also, the House resolved to investigate the strategic alliance agreement between international oil companies’ investors and the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) in the operations of marginal oil fields.
This followed the adoption of motion sponsored by Rep. Diri Douye from Bayelsa state.
Moving the motion, Rep. Douye stated that the management of Nigeria’s marginal fields which has a reserve of over 1, 000 underdeveloped oil and gas fields beginning from the 2001 – 2013 licensing rounds has witnessed over 30 marginal fields operators whose performance currently puts the prospects of the 2017 – 2018 licensing rounds of the in a precarious position.
According to him, the operational performance of the marginal oil fields operators is hinged on what he classified as external and internal factors.
He expressed regrets that even though majority of the marginal oil and gas fields are economically viable, 116 of these identified fields with over 30 of such fields, being farmed out to over 40 operators, the development of these marginal fields have remained unexplored and unsuccessful.
This, the lawmaker asserted is in spite of the policy initiatives by the federal government aimed at encouraging the operators to operate such fields, adding that most operators are battling with funding, social, political, environmental and technical issues.
“More that a decade after the award of the first marginal fields oil mining leases, the combined production volume of the marginal field operators are yet to make any significant impact in the Nigerian oil and gas industry and currently account for less than four per cent of the country’s crude oil output according to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC),” he said.
Rep. Douye declared that many major international oil companies have either abandoned or divested from the marginal oil fields which prompted the NNPC to retain oil fields divested from major foreign oil firms in the past with little or no impact on oil output.
“With the existence of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Local Content Development Act, 2010, the Freedom of Information Act, 2011 and other relevant extant laws, the material dynamics of the licensing and bidding rounds on one hand is not legitimately transparent and the professionalism of the respective marginal field operators do not meet with our national aspirations and targets after over a decade of our experimentation with marginal fields operations,” he added.
The House in its resolution referred the matter to the ad hoc committee investigating the huge debts owed indigenous contractors by the international oil companies and report back to the House for further legislative action.
