By Udeme Akpan

THE Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, has shortlisted 161 successful companies for the final stage of the bid round, targeted at selling Nigeria’s 57 marginal oilfields.

Mr. Paul Osu, Head, Public Affairs, DPR, disclosed on Thursday in Lagos that the firms were selected from the over 600 companies which applied for pre-qualification.

A marginal field is any field that has reserves booked and reported annually to the DPR and has remained idle for a period of over 10 years.

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He said: “The 2020 marginal oilfield bid round process is still ongoing in line with our published timelines on the DPR website and bid portal.

“The current status is that 161 successful companies have been short-listed to advance to the next and final stage of the process.”

According to him, the bid rounds began on June 1, adding that the DPR had put measures in place to ensure that the awardees would be credible investors with technical and financial capability.

He said the objective of the 2020 marginal field bid round is to deepen the participation of indigenous companies in the upstream segment of the industry and provide opportunities for technical and financial partnerships for investors.

Osu said Nigeria last conducted marginal field bid rounds in 2003, with 16 of the fields now contributing two percent to the national oil and gas reserves, while bringing development to their host communities in the Niger Delta.