Hopes that the Federal Government would hold any licensing round for oil blocks this year is dim due to the delay in the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), The Guardian reports.
This is comes as about 11 Oil Processing Lease (OPL) and Oil Mining Licenses (OML) are due to expire this year. Already, some of the OPLs and OMLs have expired since April and some in August, while others will be expiring by the end of this year according to a concession report by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
A reliable source indicated that Nigeria is highly unlikely to hold a major oil licensing round until the PIB is passed into law. It was also gathered that the failure by the Federal Government to organise a bid round for marginal fields in 2014 was as a result of the delay in the passage of the petroleum industry bill.