The Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) has affirmed that the nation’s Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) will enhance the success of the 2024 oil bidding round.

The Chairman of PETAN, Wole Ogunsanya, an engineer, disclosed this during a road show by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), in Houston, Texas U.S., saying PIA is a comprehensive legislation, designed to bring about restructuring, streamlining, transparency, and accountability in the oil and gas sector.

The Chief Executive Officer of NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe, had earlier said Nigeria would be placing 17 blocks for bidding. These include 12 Petroleum Prospecting Leases, PPLs 300, 301, 3008, 3009, 2000, 2001, 267, 268, 269, 270, 271 and Petroleum Mining Lease, PML 51, and the Deep Offshore Blocs, PPLs 300, 301, 302, 303, 304, 305 and 306.

The PETAN chairman said that PIA will guarantee investors’ confidence and participation by making the investment process more straightforward.

According to him, it also offers clear returns on investments. “These are deep water assets where billions of dollars will be spent. Of course, NUPRC will ensure that we attract the right investors.
“Some investors are already operating in Nigeria while others will come from outside the country. All we need to do is to present the assets to them,” he said.

Ogunsanya noted that creating an environment that encourages investment not only benefits the industry, but also ensures broader macroeconomic implications.

Commenting on the just concluded Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), he said: “We did a lot of consultations. One of the biggest things we did as soon as we were sworn in was to meet the leadership of the industry. We started with the ministers. We went all the way to the chief commission executive at NUPRC. We met with the NCDMD executive secretary. We met with the group CEO of NNPC Ltd.

“NNPC gave us a mandate to organise everything. In fact, they are the owners of OTC. PETAN is supporting to make that happen. They are the first to step forward and do what needs to be done. Of course, the minister was very enthusiastic when we met with him. He guaranteed us he would participate in all of our programmes. The chief commission executive also supported us. The NUPRC is planning a roadshow on the new assets.”

He said: “We have about 37 billion barrels of oil reserves. There is a lot more on the ground, especially in the deep offshore. By selling the assets, we look forward to increasing our reserves and production capacity. This will allow OPEC to permit us to produce more.

“We are taking that programme to Miami next week. We are also taking it to London. At the end, what we are doing will impact Nigeria’s economy and improve the life of our people.”