The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has revealed that it is set to generate about $500 million from the sale of the ongoing marginal field bid round. Aside this, for the first time in the nation’s history, the successful bidders would be allowed to pay the acquisition cost of the oilfields in naira.
With this disclosure, funding of Nigeria’s 2021 budget of N13.6 trillion may have gotten a soft landing as part of the $500 million revenue from oilfield sale would provide a soft landing for the budget implementation. Director, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mr. Saraki Auwalu, disclosed this at the weekend during a live interview on Arise TV Flagship programme-The Morning Show.
Auwalu said the $500 million revenue target will cover proceeds from application/ processing fees, data buying/leasing, signature bonuses, among other related statutory charges. “What we did internally is to look at the competent person reports and objectively estimate the average signature bonus on a field. We estimate to have not less than $500m, which is on the conservative side.” We are avoiding any third-party interference since government really believes in us and we believe the investors are having confidence in the process,” he said, adding that there would be no discretionary award.
