The Federal Government, through the steering committee of Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP),has commenced prequalification of over 250 companies that have submitted their expression of interest to bid for 178 flaring points across the crude oil production fields in the country.
NGFCP was launched by the former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, on December 13, 2016, to implement the policy objectives of the Federal Government for the elimination of gas flares with potentially enormous multiplier and development outcomes for Nigeria.
The committee, which is headed by Engineer Rabiu Sulaiman, is made up of members from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).
The evaluation process was attended by International Oil Companies (IoCs) and local industry players and is expected to be completed in a month.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, DPR Deputy Director, Gas, Olusanya Bajomo, said about 250 companies that have expressed interest will be evaluated. “Those who make it technically and financially will proceed to the next phase,” he stated.
“For the SOQ evaluation, the programme is designed in such a way that they pay $1000 fee to be able to make the submission of the SOQ. This is to screen out those that may really not be very serious.”
Chairman of the committee, Rabiu Sulaiman, said, “Part of the processes, is the bidding exercise and various other steps that will ensure that only serious organizations participate.
“So we have succeeded in weeding out numbers of companies that may not be very serious. We will be guided to ensure that the ready and best qualified will take part in the exercise.”
Olawole Ogunsola, deputy manager, said government through the DPR and other stakeholders are interested in credible companies with technical capacity and financial capability to take flare gas to market.
“We will go narrower until we get to key companies that will be able to take over individual flare points and able to aggregate the flare for the benefit of the nation’s economy,” he said.
