The Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) has opened up bidding for the construction of the National College of Petroleum Studies in Kaduna, Nigeria.

Announced on October 5th, the bidding has invited tenders for 20 contracts to construct the new oil training facility, in addition to announcing plans to upgrade the existing Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) in Effurun Warri, Delta State.

The PTI was opened in 1973 as a prerequisite of acceptance of membership to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

In total, 728 companies applied for pre-qualification for bidding, of which 410 were successful.

Executive secretary for the PTDF Alhaji Kabir Mohammed said that the pre-qualification stage was designed to comply with regulatory requirements laid out in the Public Procurement Act 2007.

According to Vanguard, he appealed to unsuccessful bidders to await future possibilities.

"In a project like this where there are only about 20 contracts to be awarded and about 410 companies were pre-qualified and invited to bid and compete, there must more losers than winners," he said.

Oil and Gas Directory: Training and Development.