Nigeria targets local upstream players with marginal field round

Reinvigorating production on acreage abandoned by the majors could be a tough task

Nigeria's drive to open up its marginal acreage to indigenous players is set to intensify, as the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) prepares to launch a fresh licensing round in 2018 incorporating up to 46 fields, largely in and around the Niger Delta. However, which fields will be on offer and the timing remain uncertain. This would be the first formal marginal field round for more than a decade. One proposed in 2013 came to nothing and the oil-price crash of 2014 ruled out a revival in the intervening years. Several lists of onshore and offshore fields that could be included are circulating in Nigeria in the absence of an official announcement, but it looks likely that some promising