History was made in the annals of the Nigerian petroleum industry when on August 26, 2005 the largest number ever of oil and gas industry players from within and outside the country gathered at the Ladi Kwali Hall of Sheraton Hotel, Abuja, to participate in the 2005 Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Acreage Bid Round.

The bid round, which was presided over by the Minister of State for Petroleum Re sources, Dr. Edmund Daukoru, also witnessed the presence of the President of the Senate, Senator Ken Nnarnani; the Special Assistant to the President on Petroleum Matters, Alhaji Ja’afaru Paki; the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum Re sources, Hajia Ammuna Lawan Ali; the Group Manag ing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Engineer Funsho Kupolokun; members of the National Assem bly, president of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and chief executives of multi-national oil companies, among others.

The bid round, which had on offer, over 70 blocks spread across the Nigerian deep offshore of the Gulf of Guinea and the Niger Delta was historic as it also had on offer, for the first time, oil blocks from the nation’s inland basins of Chad, Anambra and Benue.

Similarly, Nigeria’s indigenous oil producing company, Conoil, struck a land mark victory when it offered to pay $100 million or Ni .3 billion to secure a deep offshore oil block.

On the first day alone, the federal government raked in over $2 billion (or N256 billion) in the form of signature bonus paid for 30 blocks.
In his keynote address at the occasion, Dr. Daukoru stated that the 2005 bid round came at a time the re form process of the Chief Obasanjo administration was beginning to show concrete results, measurable across many sectors of the economy.