The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) says the bid round process for its 57 marginal oilfields in the country is still ongoing.

Mr Paul Osu, Head, Public Affairs, DPR, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Lagos that the bidding process has not been completed.

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

“Over 600 companies have applied to be prequalified for the bid rounds which began on June 1. However, the DPR had put measures in place to ensure that the awardees would be credible investors with technical and financial capability.

“The objective of the 2020 marginal field bid round was to deepen the participation of indigenous companies in the upstream segment of the industry and provide opportunities for technical and financial partnerships for investors.”

According to Osu, the last time the country conducted marginal field bid rounds was in 2003 “with 16 of the fields now contributing two per cent to the national oil and gas reserves while bringing development to their host communities in the Niger Delta.”

NAN reports that a marginal field is any field that has reserves booked and reported annually to the DPR and was unproductive for a period of over 10 years. (NAN)