The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) says it expects the first crude oil production from some of the recently awarded 57 marginal oilfields in January 2022.

Sarki Auwalu, DPR director, said this during a strategic engagement session with the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) on Wednesday in Lagos.

Marginal fields are smaller oil blocks typically developed by indigenous companies.

Mr Auwalu said the 2020 marginal oilfield bid round was almost completed, with successful companies paying their signature bonuses.

He added the award of the marginal oilfield would increase Nigeria’s oil and gas production capacity and reserves to boost the country’s resources for national development.

Mr Auwalu said the bid round, which began on June 1, 2020, was aimed at deepening the participation of indigenous companies in the upstream segment of the industry.

According to him, it will also provide opportunities for technical and financial partnerships for investors, pointing out that some of the indigenous companies that emerged from previous marginal oilfield bid rounds competed with international oil companies.

Mr Auwalu further said the DPR generated about N452 billion for the federal government from January to March.

He added that the regulatory agency was targeting an additional N900 billion for April to June.

According to him, the DPR operates a cashless revenue system that enables all revenue remittances to be paid directly to the federation account in total compliance with the government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy.

Mr Auwalu noted that transparency and accountability were critical to sustaining the industry and assured NEITI of the DPR’s support towards its mandate.

(NAN)