Section 74: Award Process.

1 The grant of a petroleum prospecting licence or a petroleum mining lease on a previously appraised area of a petroleum prospecting licence or a surrendered, relinquished or revoked petroleum mining lease in, under or upon the territory of Nigeria, shall be by an open, transparent, competitive and non-discriminatory bidding process conducted by the Commission under section 73 (1) of this Act.

2 The winning bidder shall be determined on the basis of the following bid parameters—
a a single bid parameter, which shall be based on any one of the following parameters —
(i) a signature bonus to be paid in full prior to the granting of the licence or lease by or on behalf of the winning bidder,
(ii) a royalty interest,
(iii) a profit split or profit oil split.
(iv) a work programme commitment during the initial exploration period, or
(v) any other parameter as may be defined specific to a bid round; and
b a combination of the bid parameters specified in paragraph (a) of this subsection, based on a points system assessable by the bidder in such a manner that the bidder with the highest aggregate number of points shall be the winning bidder.

3 Notwithstanding the bidding parameters prescribed in subsection (2), where there is a bilateral or multi-lateral agreement between Nigeria and another country, the Government may, for strategic purpose and in return for substantive benefits to the nation, direct the Commission to negotiate and award a petroleum prospecting licence or petroleum mining lease to a qualified investor identified in the agreement or treaty.

4 A signature bonus payable in respect of any licence or lease awarded under subsection (3) shall be based on a transparent method for evaluating the acreage.

5 The Commission shall call for bids in accordance with a procedure published on its website and in at least two international financial newspapers and two national newspapers with wide coverage.

6 Where the Commission calls for bids pursuant to this section, it shall prescribe in a regulation or guideline the minimum pre-qualification criteria of prospective bidders in terms of technical and financial requirements and previous experience.

7 The bids received based on the bid parameters prescribed in subsection (2) through an open, transparent and competitive bidding process, shall include an electronic bidding process, open to public and conducted in the presence of representatives of the Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources.