…Alleges that fraudsters are at work
The Directorate of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has denied that it issued any guidelines to potential investors willing to participate in a marginal fields bid round.
In a release issued last night, the DPR described as misleading documents flying in the media purporting that Nigeria has endorsed a 2020 marginal field bids rounds in order to contain the recent drop in oil prices which is hitting Nigeria hard.
The documents in denial had provided a timetable for the 2020 marginal field bid round, indicating that after kick off, the bidding process would take a maximum of six months, while bidding forms will be provided by the DPR.
In a report published by Africa Oil & Gas Report, an energy intelligence publication, the detailed steps for the 2020 Marginal Field bid rounds include submission of application by interested companies, prequalification of interested companies, announcement of pre-qualified companies, submission of detailed technical and commercial bids by prequalified companies, evaluation of technical and commercial bids and announcement of winning bids.
In the statement issued by the management of the DPR, it said, the attention of the Department has been drawn to the document titled “Guidelines for Operation of Marginal Fields,” and similar documents currently making the rounds on some websites and the social media, purportedly issued by the DPR.
“Members of the public and all stakeholders are by this notice strongly advised to disregard these fake documents in their entirety, as they are the handiwork of unscrupulous persons and mischief makers whose sole motive is to defraud unsuspecting individuals and investors alike.”
DPR said it is always committed to open and transparent processes for all regulatory activities in the Nigerian oil and gas industry. “Accordingly, DPR enjoins the general public to rely only on DPR published information in the media, on the DPR website and other official electronic channels,” the statement said.
The Africa Oil & Gas Report has said the current application process attracted non-refundable chargeable fees of: N2million as application fee per field; N3million as bid processing fee per field; $15,000 for data prying fee per field; $25,000 for data leasing fee of per field.
Others financial requirements for the fake application process include what is called competent persons report of $50,000 and $25,000 for fields specific report. All application fees and processing fees are expected to be paid into the Treasury Single Account (TSA) while signature bonuses are expected to be paid into the federation account, the report said.
Fees for data leasing, data prying, competent persons report (CPR) and field specific report are payable into the National Data Repository (NDR) account for repayment. The DPR said all these are lies and urged members of the public to disregard them.
Chibisi Ohakah
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