Ministry, PwC Provide Clarification for Selection of Bidders for Bitumen Devt

Ugo Aliogo

The Ministry of Mines and Steel Development in collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers have laid out the competitive tender for the selection of bidders for the development of Nigeria’s Delineated Bitumen Blocks in a virtual clarification yesterday.

The Ministry of Mines and Steel Development had issued PwC a letter of award on the 11th of November, 2022, designating it as its Transaction Adviser/Programme Manager to oversee the selection of bidders for the development of Nigeria’s defined bitumen blocks through a competitive tender procedure.

In opening remarks by the Director General of Mining Cadastre and the Chairman of Bitumen Committee, Engr. Obadiah Simon, disclosed that Nigeria is blessed with a lot of mineral resources which have remained untapped.

According to him, the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development have recorded tremendous success after its establishment, but he noted that there was more to be done, adding that bitumen is one of the very important resources that have remained untapped. 

He called on more investors to buy into the development saying, “all hands must be on deck” for the good of everyone.

In his presentation, the Director General of Nigerian Geological Survey Agency, Dr. Abdulrasaq Garbar, provided an up to date history of bitumen exploration in Nigeria. 

He also gave some geoscientific data and all other information needed to guide the investors in the making of sound judgement in whatever area they are looking to invest in. “Nigeria ranks 6th in bitumen reserves in the world, with reserves estimated at 42 billion barrels,” he said.

The Leader of the Mining Practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers Nigeria, Cyril Azobu, who spoke about the mandate of PwC on the bitumen programme stated that, the scope of the PwC mandate is to ensure uniqueness and peculiarity of the exploration, development, and extraction of bitumen. 

He disclosed that only suitably qualified local and international investors with pre-requisite experience, technological expertise and financial capacity will be chosen to execute bitumen development to a meaningful extraction-level, through a transparent and competitive procurement process as enshrined in the Nigerian Mineral and Mining Act, 2007 and in line with global best industry practices.

In his presentation, the Director, Capital Projects and Infrastructure, Mr. Suleiman Ibrahim, pointed out the criteria for the qualification of investors and a project overview as well. 

According to him, “PwC has disclosed that a two-stage bidding process will be adopted; the request for qualification and the request for proposal stage. Also, the bidding process is to go on for seven months from May to November 2022. The local and international investors are expected to prepare a Request for Qualification Application and send it to bitumen.ngsa.gov.ng. The application is to consist of six credentials which include experience in bitumen testing, bitumen refining capabilities, bitumen exploration and extraction. In addition, investors are also needed to comply with applicable environmental, social and governance sustainability guidelines; balance sheet assets exceeding US$25 million; and lastly, technical and financial capability to execute feasibility studies. The main use of bitumen in Nigeria is for road construction. The bitumen, an important component of asphalt, is used for road paving. The main focus of the Federal Government of Nigeria for the bidding process is bitumen to asphalt.”