The Federal Government, on Tuesday, announced the addition of 17 deep offshore oil blocks to the 2024 Licensing Round for oil fields in Nigeria.

Recall that some deep offshore blocks were recently put on offer for the 2022/23 mini-bid round and other blocks which cut across onshore, continental shelf and deep offshore terrains were also put on offer for the Nigeria 2024 Licencing Round.

Precisely on May 8, the government invited investors to bid for 12 oil blocks and seven deep offshore assets in the 2024 marginal fields bid round.

Also on June 12, 2024, it was reported that the Federal government had increased the number of oil blocks on offer in the 2024 marginal bid round.

The Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Gbenga Komolafe, disclosed this at the pre-bid conference for the 2024 licencing round in Lagos.

Providing updates on the 2022/2023 and 2024 licencing rounds, Komolafe, in a statement he signed and issued in Abuja on Tuesday, said 17 deep offshore blocks have been added to the 2024 Licensing Round.

He said, “In pursuit of the commission’s commitment to derive value from the country’s abundant oil and gas reserves and increase production, the commission has been working assiduously with multi-client companies to undertake more exploratory activities to acquire more data to foster and encourage further investment in the Nigerian upstream sector.

“As a result of additional data acquired in respect of deep offshore blocks, the commission has added 17 deep offshore blocks to the 2024 Licensing Round. Further details on the blocks can be found on the bid portal.”

Komolafe further stated that “by the published guidelines, we had earlier indicated that some of the assets on offer should be applied for as clusters, namely: PPL 300-CS & PPL 301-CS, PPL 2000 and PPL 2001. Bidders are hereby advised that they may, at their option, bid for those blocks as clusters or as single units.”

For clarification, he said bidders should refer to the Frequently Asked Questions Sections of the 2022/23 and 2024 Licensing Round portals, or contact the upstream regulatory agency.

The NUPRC boss also stated that to allow interested investors to take advantage of the expanded opportunities, the 2024 Licencing Round schedule had been amended.