Nigeria 2000 Licensing Round Open

In 1993, deep offshore blocks were awarded in which a number of international oil companies are currently participating. The exploration and drilling campaign which started in 1995 has been yielding encouraging results. In the past year, additional and significant drilling successes have been recorded by these companies. To date, a number of sizeable discoveries as well as modest ones have been made. Some of the major commercial finds include Bonga (OPL 212), Agbami (OPL 216) and Erha (OPL 209). In the Niger Delta shallow continental shelf and onshore blocks, new discoveries have also continued to be recorded.

With these developments, it is projected that by the end of this decade, current reserves will be potentially doubled to as much as 50 billion bbl with attendant substantial increase in production capacity (from 2 million b/d to 5 million b/d), but to achieve this aspiration, exploration activities must be expanded, and spending increased from US$4.5-5 billion a year to $10 billion a year, thus some acreage in the recently blocked ultra deep offshore as well as open blocks in the Nigerian aquatory and onshore need to be put up for tender.

As a consequence, the Nigerian government has approved the commencement of the process for grant of Oil Prospecting Licenses (OPL's) for some blocks in the deep/ultra deep offshore, shallow continental shelf, and onshore locations, through an open competitive bidding system.

The blocks are now available for bidding:

Niger Delta 4 Onshore Blocks - OPL's 135, 236, 304, and 452.

Niger Delta Shallow Continental Shelf 7 Blocks – OPL's 227, 229, 239, 233, 240, 241, and 467.

Niger Delta Deep/Ultra Deep Offshore 11 Blocks – OPL's 214, 242, 243, 244, 249, 250, 318, 320, 322, 324, and 326.

Additional information can be obtained by contacting the Nigerian Department of Petroleum Resources in Lagos or Abuja and/or the Embassies of Nigeria in Washington and Paris as well as the Nigerian High Commission in London.