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FG inaugurates committee on 2007 bid round
By Luka Binniyat
Posted to the Web: Tuesday, December 26, 2006

ABUJA —A nine-man special committee has been set up and inaugurated by the Federal Government to work out the set rules for the processes leading to the award of oil blocks at the 2007 bidding rounds for oil and gas blocks.

The committee was set up by Dr. Edmund Daukoru, the Minster of State for Petroleum, following a directive from the presidency that measures be taken to review the bidding process and to plug any perceived loopholes in the previous rounds.

This development is seen as the outcome of recent controversy generated over the acquisition of oil block 291 by the Addax/Starcrest consortium during the 2006 bidding round which led to the suspension and recall of the Director of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mr. Tony Chukwueke.
Source said “the idea is to bring more transparency into the award process and to strengthen the capacity of the agencies by widening the membership of the supervising team”.
Part of the committee’s mandate is to overhaul the existing processes and to come up with the best way to handle the 2007 bidding round to engender more investor’s confidence and avoid controversy.

Daukoru, at the occasion, spoke of the need for the committee to immediately get down to business and to critically understudy the existing processes so as to advise government appropriately.
Members of the committee, which had the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Edmund Daukoru as the chairman include, are- the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN); a representative of the Minister of Finance, Mr.Bright Okogu; a representative of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. J.O. Adeyemi.


Others are the Managing Director of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, Group General Manager of the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS-NNPC), Mr. George Osahon, a representative of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), Mr. S.M. Waziri and the reinstated Director of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mr. Tony Chukwueke.

The committee has been given until the end of January, 2007 to completely draw up the format of the licensing round which would include the schedule for the 2007 edition of the bid rounds.
It could be recalled that in an effort to enthrone a more transparent exploitation of the nation’s oil acreage, FG introduced a number of innovations in the 2005 bidding rounds to include: the open bid arrangement where prospective investors jostle for operatorship licenses of oil blocks in an open and fair manner and the local content vehicle initiative aimed at encouraging indigenous participation in the petroleum industry.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/business/december06/26122006/b126122006.html