FG renews 25 oil block licences, approves 16 field development plans

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) says the federal government approved the renewal of 25 oil block licences and approved 16 new field development plans.

NAN reports that the information was made available in the DPR report made public at a workshop for energy reporters in Lagos on Friday.

According to the report, the federal government earned N748 billion from taxes and royalties paid by oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria in 2017 and $1 billion from the oil licence renewal.

“We renewed 19 expired leases in 2017 to enhance upstream investment influx and accelerate oil and gas reserves and production growth,” the report read.

“We actively supported the implementation of a major gas commercialisation programme, which seeks to create a regulatory framework to facilitate gas flare monetisation to end gas flaring by 2020.”

The agency said it issued ten licences and approval for the development of gas production and processing facilities.

The DPR said it initiated an early lease renewal programme to accelerate revenue generation for government.

It added that this was meant to fund national budget and incentivise upstream investment by ensuring the security of tenure, long gestation and payback period for oil and gas investments.

“We increased national gas reserve base from 192.07trillion cubic feet to 197.74 trillion cubic feet representing 3.5 per cent increase over the preceding year.

“We increased operator compliance on National Production Monitoring System (NPMS) by commencing the upgrade of the NPMS to real-time data captured in 26 crude oil terminal locations.

“This improved the efficiency in the administration of crude oil export and production accounting.”