Three Nigerian firms bid for oil blocks in Uganda’s maiden licensing round

Three Nigerian oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) companies were among seven prospective bidders shortlisted to participate in the maiden oil licensing bid round for oil blocks approved by the Ugandan government.
The Ugandan Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development said it received bids from interested investors for the seven blocks located in the country’s Albertine Graben area.
The three Nigerian firms include WalterSmith Petroman Oil Limited; Oranto Petroleum International Limited, and Niger Delta Petroleum Resources Limited.
The trio would be competing against two Australian firms, namely Armour Energy Limited and Swala Energy Limited. Other bidders include Rift Energy Corporation of Canada and Glint Energy LLC of USA.
All the applicants, who were among 16 potential bidders issued with the bidding documents on October 1, 2015, had met the February 26, 2016 deadline for the final submission of their bids for approval the ministry said.
The bidding document comprised the Request for Proposal, Model Production Sharing Agreement 2015 (MPSA), Model Confidentiality Agreement for sale of data, Petroleum (Exploration, Development and Production) (Data Sale) Regulations 2014 and Petroleum (Exploration, Development and Production) (Data Sale) (Amendment), Regulations 2015.
The six oil blocks on offer comprise of the Ngassa, measuring about 410 square kilometres, located in the Hoima District; Taitai & Karuka (565 Km2) in Buliisa District; Ngaji (895 Km2) in Rukungiri & Kanungu Districts; Mvule (344 Km2) in Moyo and Yumbe Districts, together with Turaco (425 Km2) and Kanywantaba (344 Km2) in Ntoroko District.