The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) stated on Friday that the Nigerian authorities are considering a new licensing round for 2021.
Mele Kyari said in an online forum held by the Society of Petroleum Engineers that Nigeria had delayed a major bid round due to COVID-19, which led to a global oil price crash. Earlier this year Nigeria launched a marginal fields licensing round, which has gone ahead, although the government has not yet released the list of winning bidders.
A new licensing round could include ultra-deepwater fields, Kyari said. He also shared the government’s ambition to ramp up production to approximately 3 million barrels per day (bpd) and looks forward to seeing the current cuts imposed by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) lifted. He noted that he expects global oil demand to
recover in 2022.
