No fewer than one hundred and sixty-one (161) successful companies have been shortlisted to advance to the next and final stage of the bid round process for 57 marginal oilfields in the country, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has said.
The firms were selected from the over 600 companies that applied for pre-qualification.
The Head of Public Affairs of DPR, Mr. Paul Osu, disclosed this in Lagos.
He said the bid rounds began on June 1, last year, adding that the DPR has put measures in place to ensure that the awardees would be credible investors with technical and financial capabilities.
According to Osu, the objective of the 2020 marginal field bid round is to deepen the participation of indigenous companies in the upstream segment of the industry and provide opportunities for technical and financial partnerships for investors.
Osu said Nigeria last conducted marginal field bid rounds in 2003, with 16 of the fields now contributing two per cent to the national oil and gas reserves, while bringing development to their host communities in the Niger Delta.