The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, (NUPRC) Mr. Gbenga Komolafe, Thursday, announced the shortlist of 139 bidders from the 300 that applied for the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP).
They were adjudged qualified following the evaluation exercise conducted in line with the RFQ published criteria.
In a statement,Mr. Komolafe, said the NGFCP 2022, is first among series of competitive auctions whereby flare gas that would otherwise have been directed to flare will be put on sale by the Commission to interested entities as prospective title holders of the flare gas.
Congratulating the successful applicants on their brilliant performance during the Statement of Qualification (SOQ) phase of the bid process, Komolafe noted that, that was only a start of the journey as the real deal is in making a robust and competitive proposal, with demonstrable evidence for capacity to deliver on the flare monetisation projects.
“This is a very defining moment, in the history of Nigeria’s Oil and Gas industry and being a part of this journey is by no means a trifle task. This is especially so because the NGFCP checks the box in many fronts. Apart from forestalling the deleterious impacts of gas flaring on the environment, the Programme also ends the wanton wastage of our premium economic resource.
“In today’s carbon constrained world, where fossil fuel is becoming less and less popular, in view of issues of climate change, natural gas has assumed a stature of significant importance as the bridging fuel for many oil and gas producing nations. For us here in Nigeria, Gas has been adopted as our transition fuel to drive the industrialisation of the nation’s economy in line with the expectations of the Decade of Gas initiatives launched by the government.
“Additionally, the NGFCP initiative is also targeted at creating investment and employment opportunities and encouraging increased capital inflow to the Nigerian Oil and Gas sector. So indeed the value derivable is multifaceted and aligns with the focus areas of our sustainable development goals” he added.
According to him,the NGFCP 2022 is first among series of competitive auctions whereby flare gas that would otherwise have been directed to flare will be put on sale by the commission to interested entities as prospective title holders of the flare gas.
He explained that in the programme, prospective bidders are expected to submit bid proposals in line with the requirements and terms of the RFP, covering such areas as technical, commercial, financial, and other relevant information regarding the project that the qualified applicant intends to develop.
He added that, such projects may include a plan to use the gas as fuel or feedstock or both for products to be disposed of in either the domestic or international markets. All Proposals from Bidders will be judged strictly on their merits according to the criteria published in RFP document which has since been uploaded on the NGFCP portal.
He said that at this second phase of the Programme, tagged – the Request for Proposal (RFP) phase, Qualified Applicants will have access to the data room for data prying and leasing, including suite of Commercial agreements, for the 48 gas flare sites on offer in the NGFCP 2022.
He stated that the precise flare sites, volumes, and compositions of gas offered will be accessed in the Data room to be made available to Qualified Applicants via the NGFCP 2022 portal upon payment of relevant fees as prescribed in the RFP.
“The Data room sessions will be held virtually to provide flexibility and comfort to all participants. Please rest assured that the Commission shall ensure an open, transparent, competitive, and non-discriminatory bidding process in line with the Provisions of Section 74 of Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.
“It is important to remark that the NGFCP 2022 is not prescriptive as regards the choice of technology, product output or destination, however, it is favourably disposed to Bidders who may consider clustering as this will indicate greater mop up of the flare gas by a proposal” he said.
