NUPRC Rallies Stakeholders, Investors For Gas Flare Elimination

To expedite the implementation of the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) claims it has organised a Bidders' Conference/Investors Forum for industry stakeholders (NGFCP).

The development was revealed in a statement made available on Tuesday in Abuja and signed by the NUPRC Chief Executive, Gbenga Komolafe.

He said that participants and investors in the nation's upstream petroleum sector will have the chance to ask questions about the programme at the conference.

A similar conference was held in Lagos on January 16 for interested stakeholders and investors in the proposed mini-bid round for deep offshore oil fields.

The forum scheduled for February 2, 2023, in Abuja, would take place just a month after that conference.

Qualified candidates, financiers, technology providers, equipment manufacturers, service providers, funders, and other interested parties would take part in the event, according to Komolafe.

He claimed that for the success of the programme as a whole, it would also make it easier for qualified applicants to connect with technology suppliers, potential lenders, and financial institutions, as well as build commercial collaborations.

Komolafe claims that the NUPRC revived the NGFCP 2022 in August 2022 in order to advance Nigeria's promise to put an end to routine gas flaring within the next ten years, support the goals of the Nigeria Energy Transition Plan (ETP), and generate value from waste.

He said the NGFCP 2022 had been restructured to reflect the current gas flaring situation, prevailing operational realities in the industry and changes in the socio-economic landscape due to the passage of time since the NGFCP was originally conceived in alignment with the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 (PIA).

“The NGFCP 2022 is therefore modified to deliver end-to-end value from flare gas commercialisation to both existing and new participants.

“In accordance with Section 105 (2) of the PIA and similar provisions enabling the Commission in that respect, the Commission commenced the Request for Qualification (RFQ) stage of the NGFCP 2022

“This was through the issuance of a Statement of Qualification (SOQ) to enable existing applicants to validate their status and for new investors to register to participate through the NGFCP website/ portal.

“The NGFCP 2022 recorded significant interest from stakeholders including existing participants, new investors, multi-lateral institutions, equipment manufacturers and the wider investment communities, both domestic and international.

“As at the SOQ submission deadline, 300 companies/entities had registered their interest to either revalidate their prequalification status as existing participants or submit Statement of Qualification (SOQ) as new participants.

“Also, in line with the provisions of the RFQ, the SOQ evaluation exercise was conducted by the Commission wherein a total of 139 applicants were deemed successful and awarded the Qualified Applicant status,” he said.

He claimed that the Commission had published the list of qualifying applicants who will advance to the Request for Proposal (RFP) phase of the NGFCP 2022 in order to that goal and in reliance on Section 105 (2) of the PIA and comparable laws authorising the Commission in that regard.

He added that information about the SOQ evaluation exercise could be found at www.nuprc.gov.ng and ngfcp.nuprc.gov.ng, respectively, on the NUPRC website and the NGFCP portal.