The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) Mallam Kyari Mele Kolo in his keynote address has called on the winners of Nigeria 2012 Licensing Bid Round to embrace all encompassing expertise in achieving successful crude oil production from their acquired marginal oilfields. The NNPCL GCEO stated this at the recently concluded NOG Energy week 2023 held at the international conference centre Abuja.

Marshaling out his utmost viewpoints on the persistent inability of the 2012 oilfield licensing bid winners to achieve successful crude oil production, he stated that the success of such marginal field should not be solely focus on the competency and prowess of geoscientists but should be involved all sundry that encompass the entire upstream operations.

The NNPCL GCEO stated that as a geologist, he is not trying to undermine or underscore the pivotal role play by geologists in this all important sector but there is need to emphasis the need to involve other professionals in the upstream sector to achieve a timely, successful and profitable crude oil production for these marginal fields.

“On the 2012 divestment, I want any one of you (the bid winners) here to say if any has met its aspiration; the answer is no. But why didn’t it happen? First fiscal environment; but the law (PIA) has taken care of this,” Mallam Kyari said.

We should vividly recall that the controversy surrounding the 2012 bid round was the nascent enactment of petroleum Industrial Acts (PIA). The delay in the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) into law hindered many hydrocarbon businesses in the Nigerian Oil & Gas Sector especially in the upstream sector. The Nigeria 2010 licensing bid round was exclusively and poorly executive owing to an unfavorable fiscal environment potentially presented by the PIB. The Eventual merging of the 2010 bid round into 2012 licensing bid round was done to null this effect.

The NNPC Boss also highlighted capacity building in the sector as a palpable Achilles heel that rendered the 2012 bid round unsuccessful. He said that inability of the bid winners to involve the right professionals (Well Engineers) to curb all obstacles that posed unforeseen glitch to successful crude oil production is part of their undoin

“You can have very experienced geologists, but you still need hundreds of other professionals to get it done. And as long as they are not there, you cannot get it done and that is exactly what happened. And that is why lamentation continues and it’s very easy to blame anyone else especially the NNPCL who is the regulator for not doing this or that. And nobody focuses on the other side of the game. But today it’s a different ball game; you have the Petroleum Industrial Act that has enacted everything,” Mallam Kyari emphasized.

NNPCL Boss further stated that though in every business there are always room issues but these issues can be resolved. But not that it is the regulatory framework that hindered the successful implementation of the 2002 Licensing Bid Round and blaming NNPCL for their shortcomings is an act of diversionary to the real root cause.

Mallam Kyari mentioned cash calls as part of the demands from the 2012 bid winners. As this is an expectation from the regulator NNPCL to provide its counterpart funding for the development of these fields. But Mallam Kyari stated that cash calls are now a thing of the past and no longer fashionable in the NNPCL.

“Cash calls have become a business and NNPCL will no longer do that anymore.  Cash calls is no longer in business. And by law we are migrating to IJV and if you don’t want it, we will sell out equity. We can migrate to a corporate joint venture so that we can go to the market with you and sell it together and this is the new dimension,” Kyari finally posited.