Only one out of 77 oil blocks are producing – DPR

Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, says out of  the more than 77 oil blocks awarded between 2005 and 2007, only one is producing, a situation that has called for urgent intervention by the Federal Government.

This is even as price of Brent crude oil dropped below $116 a barrel, as anticipation of a possible delay in a military strike on Syria. This helped calm concerns over Middle East oil supplies.

Speaking at a forum on the 2005 to 2007 licensing round in Lagos, George Osahon, DPR, also declared that the rest of the non-producing oil blocks are presently at less than 30 per cent development.

It is widely believed that block owners merely acquire such assets for status ship, as most simply go block hawking when they acquire the licences.

While it may have been easy to fling such blocks away to the first bidder, stringent measures introduced have made it impossible for Nigerian oil blocks to be sold so easily in the open market

He lamented the fact that majority of the operators are using the delay in the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, as an excuse not to develop their fields, stating that this is improper and a ploy to blame the government for their lack of seriousness

According to him, in the last three to four years, nothing is happening in Nigeria’s upstream sector, while in the marginal fields sector; only eight oil blocks are currently producing out of the 24 awarded to 31 successful companies.