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The Nigerian government has started the auction process for seven deep offshore oil blocks while urging investors everywhere to submit bids for designated oil blocks.

Recall that in October, Gbenga Komolafe, the NUPRC’s chief executive, told Bloomberg in an interview that the government will be holding an auction for deep offshore oil and gas licenses for the first time in 15 years.

Komolafe had said that the Nigerian government would launch a bidding round for the seven deep-water oil blocks in November.

According to him, the blocks available are at depths of between about 1,200 meters (3,936 feet) and 3,100 metres; saying that they are located off the city of Lagos, rather than off the coast of the Niger Delta further to the east where most of the country’s oil industry is concentrated.

On Wednesday, Komolafe, during a press briefing in Abuja announced that the government has put up the seven deep-water oil blocks for offer, saying that this is the first time a bid for a deep offshore asset is holding after the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 and since April 2007 when 45 blocks were offered but under the defunct regulation.

Pirmak Zwanbun

Pirmak is a senior researcher at the African Energy Institute. He has 10 years of experience across the energy verticals of power, hydrogen, oil, gas, LNG and renewable energy.