By Daniel Oluwatobiloba Popoola
The Federal Government has announced that 13 of the 50 oil and gas blocks offered under the 2025 Licensing Round will be returned to the licensing basket after they failed to attract bids from prospective investors.
The disclosure was made on Tuesday, 21 July, 2026 by the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, during the 2025 Commercial Bid Conference in Abuja. She explained that while 50 oil and gas blocks were offered for bidding, only 37 attracted investor participation.
“At the end of the exercise, we had 50 blocks on offer, but we only had representation for 37 of those 50 blocks. Thirteen of those blocks will be returning back to the basket,” Eyesan said.
Despite the unbid assets, she described the licensing round as a success, revealing that 143 companies submitted about 200 commercial bids for the available oil and gas blocks.
“We have a total of 143 companies showing interest for 200 bids. That, for us, was remarkable, and I must say thank you,” she said.
Eyesan further disclosed that the licensing round initially attracted interest from nearly 300 companies, which she said reflected growing investor confidence in Nigeria’s upstream petroleum industry.
“When we started the journey, we got interest from almost 300 companies. I repeat, almost 300 companies. That, in my view, was an indication that the tide has turned for Nigeria,” she stated.
According to her, the number of interested companies was reduced to 196 after the prequalification exercise before progressing to the technical and commercial evaluation stages.
“From the almost 300 interests that we got, we moved to the prequalification stage, and that number was pruned down to 196,” she added.
She noted that 143 companies eventually advanced to the commercial bidding stage, submitting approximately 200 bids for the available assets.
The 2025 Licensing Round, announced on November 11, 2025, in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, offered 50 oil and gas blocks spread across seven sedimentary basins.
The assets comprise 16 onshore blocks in the Niger Delta, 18 shallow water blocks, one deep offshore block, three blocks in the Benin Basin, four in the Anambra Basin, four in the Chad Basin and four in the Benue Trough.
The bid portal opened on December 1, 2025, while a pre-bid conference was held in Lagos on January 14, 2026, to guide prospective investors on the requirements for participation.
Registration and prequalification submissions closed on February 27, 2026, with the prequalification process concluded on March 16, 2026.
Under the licensing framework, successful bidders are determined through a weighted evaluation process that considers signature bonus commitments, proposed work programmes and performance security, combining both technical and commercial assessments rather than financial offers alone.
The Federal Government said the framework is designed to ensure that Nigeria’s petroleum assets are awarded to investors with the financial capacity, technical competence and operational capability required to accelerate exploration and boost crude oil and gas production.
