The Nigerian government has stated that it may revoke the marginal field licences awarded in the 2021 round of the programme, without requisite investment.
The Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, made this known on Thursday while speaking during a facility tour of Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited, Ibigwe, Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State.
The minister said Waltersmith Group and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) had supported the Federal Government agenda of improving domestic refining capacity.
Lokpobiri also charged companies who had been given the licence for modular refineries and marginal field licences to take cues from Waltersmith and make deliberate investments.
While he expressed federal government satisfaction toward the company and NCDMB for taking the bull by the horns to commence local refining of crude and partially meeting the demand of the locals.
According to the statement, 5,000-barrel per stream day by Waltersmith Petroman, which has been a stable source of diesel, kerosene, naphta, and high fuel oil to the domestic market since its commissioning in 2020, was for him a proof of how beneficial such smaller processing plants could be.
He said, “The quickest way to fix our energy challenge in the country should be through modular refineries, while we await the total rehabilitation of the big refineries.
“If you have a marginal field, an allocation, it is a paper given to you, it doesn’t add value to you or to Nigeria, unless you take it to the next level by making the requisite investment and then adding the value that is expected.
“What I am seeing is that out of the numerous marginal fields that were allocated, only Waltersmith and a few of them have been successfully driven.”
The minister recalled that he had warned at the recent Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) event in Abuja that marginal field licences without the requisite investments risked being cancelled.
Explaining the imperative of such a line of action, he said, “It is important that we make this point so that we can retrieve some of those fields to the basket,” so as to reallocate such assets to those able and prepared to develop and exploit them to the benefit of the industry and the nation.
He revealed that he had obtained presidential approval to conduct a fresh round of bidding, which would take place soon, promising that “marginal fields would [henceforth] be prioritised in terms of their location to those who have modular refineries, so that they will be able to produce.”
“I can assure you that this Government will do whatever we can to support you so that you can continue to grow,” he added.