Gas Commercialisation: NUPRC Announces 139 Bidders for Next Stage

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has announced 139 business entities as having qualified for the next round of the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP) 2022.

In a statement signed by the Chief Executive of the Commission, Mr Gbenga Komolafe, the oil and gas regulator stated that 300 bidders entered for the scheme initially.

“NUPRC is pleased to notify all interested parties, registered parties, the investor community, and the general public of the conclusion of the Request for Qualification (RFQ) phase of the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP) 2022 in line with the accelerated delivery schedule.

“You may recall that in furtherance to the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 (PIA), the NGFCP was restructured for enhanced value to investors, following in-depth assessment of current industry gas flaring situation and prevailing operational realities, coupled with changes in the socio-economic landscape since the NGFCP was initially conceived,” it noted.

Consequently, the NUPRC stated that the Request for Qualification (RFQ) was issued to enable interested parties register their interest to participate in the programme.

“The commission is pleased to announce that 300 companies registered their interest to revalidate their prequalification status and submit Statement of Qualification (SOQ) as existing bidders and new participants, respectively.

“Following successful conclusion of the SOQ evaluation exercise conducted by the Bid Evaluation Team (BET), a total of 139 applicants were deemed successful and awarded the qualified applicant status in line with the provisions of the RFQ,” the industry regulator said.

To that end, and in consideration of Section 105 (2) of the PIA and similar provisions enabling the commission in that respect, NUPRC said it was publishing the list of qualified applicants who will proceed to the Request for Proposal (RFP) phase of the NGFCP 2022.

“On behalf of the board and management of the commission, I heartily congratulate all successful applicants and enjoin them to follow through with the subsequent stages of the programme towards becoming a permit holder/flare gas Buyer in line with the applicable statutes.

“All qualified applicants shall receive further communications via their respective contact addresses and the NGFCP portal (ngfcp.nuprc.gov.ng) accordingly,” the statement added.

The NUPRC re-launched the (NGFCP) 2022 in October last year, with the aim of reducing the flaring of the resource and ramp up its deployment for economic use.

The initiative introduces a bankable commercial structure for the monetisation of flared gas by providing flare gas buyers with title and access to collect the molecules from the prescribed fields.