NUPRC Opens Bidding for 50 Oil Blocks, Eyes $10bn

The Federal Government, through the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), has unveiled an ambitious plan to attract $10bn in new investments and unlock up to two billion barrels of crude oil reserves through the newly commenced Nigeria 2025 Petroleum Licensing Round.

Unveiling the bid round in Abuja on Monday, the Chief Executive, NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe, said the exercise, covering 50 oil and gas blocks across onshore, shallow-water, frontier, and deepwater terrains, would help reverse declining exploration activity, expand reserves, and boost national production.

Komolafe said the round marks a major step in the country’s push to revitalise exploration and boost long-term production capacity. He said the commission had unveiled detailed guidelines on its portal, br2025.nuprc.gov.ng, and adopted a two-stage bidding process designed to ensure credibility, investor confidence, and fairness, as prescribed by Section 73 of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021.

He said, “The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission is proud to formally announce the commencement of the Nigeria 2025 licensing round and the launch of the licensing round online portal br2025.nuprc.gov.ng.

“This announcement is in line with Section 73 of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, which prescribes a fair, transparent, and competitive bidding process. Further to this, the NUPRC, following the gracious approval of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, has listed 50 oil and gas blocks across onshore, swamp/shallow water, and offshore terrains spanning diverse basins.”

Of these 50 blocks, 15 are onshore assets; shallow water 19; frontier 15, and 1 deep water asset. According to the NUPRC, the 2025 round is expected to significantly deepen upstream activity over the next decade, with projections indicating that the awarded blocks could collectively deliver up to 400,000 barrels per day upon full operationalisation.

“The Nigeria 2025 licensing round is therefore expected to attract about $10 billion in investments and add up to 2 billion barrels of oil output over the next 10 years with an estimated 400,000 barrels/Day of production volumes when the blocks are fully operational,” he added.

The NUPRC boss stressed that transparency remained central to the 2025 bid round, which will run for six months. The 2025 round builds on the gains of the 2024 licensing round, which introduced digital platforms, automated workflows, and improved data access to speed up the bid process.

The process begins with a qualification stage, where applicants or their consultants must submit extensive documentation for evaluation. Only shortlisted firms will proceed to the bid stage, where they will sign confidentiality agreements and submit both technical and commercial proposals.

Winners will emerge at the commercial bid round. The commission emphasised that the age or date of incorporation of bidding companies is not a limiting factor, as the assessment will focus strictly on technical capacity, professionalism, and financial capability.

The NUPRC boss added, “The qualification stage involves the submission and evaluation of applications by interested parties or consortia in accordance with the Regulation and the Guidelines. Applicants shall provide all information required for this stage. Only applicants who are adjudged qualified and subsequently shortlisted by the Commission shall proceed to the Bid Stage and will be required to execute a Confidentiality Agreement prior to participation.

“At the bid stage, shortlisted applicants or bidders shall submit their Technical and Commercial Bids in accordance with the Regulation, the guidelines, and any other bidding documents issued by the commission. Given our commitment to transparency and alignment with best practices, the bid process will be automated and digital. Winners will emerge at the commercial bid process.”

Effective immediately, the commission has published the Licensing Round Guidelines, Asset Teasers, Activity Schedule, Maps, and other documents on the Licensing Round Portal for public access.

Komolafe further defended the Federal Government’s recent licensing rounds, insisting that the 2024 exercise delivered “massive success” while all awardees have met their obligations and progressed to various stages of exploration and field development.

“The fact that a licensing round was concluded last year does not mean awardees should already be in production,” he said. “Exploration takes time. But in a nutshell, significant milestones have been achieved, and work is ongoing across all awarded assets.”

The NUPRC chief noted that drilling and field activity were already rising across the country, driven by strong investor compliance and renewed interest in Nigeria’s hydrocarbon basins.

“If you check our data released monthly, you will see that rig count is geometrically on the rise. Those rigs are not for fun; they are carrying out activities that will lead to a ramp-up in production,” he added.

Komolafe recalled that Nigeria’s last licensing initiatives, the 2022 Mini-Bid Round and the landmark 2024 Licensing Round, were conducted with “unprecedented transparency, unmatched global competitiveness and extensive investor engagement.”

He noted that the 2024 round was particularly historic as it attracted commendation from the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and other stakeholders, and was concluded “remarkably without any petitions or litigations.”

According to him, these achievements prove that the Commission has restored credibility to the licensing process.

Justifying the commission’s planned global roadshows, in foreign countries including Beijing, Komolafe said the Petroleum Industry Act mandated the Commission to grow reserves and production, a task that requires proactive marketing of Nigeria’s hydrocarbon potential in every region of the world.

“The PIA does not limit us to any geographic region. We are being strategic. The global energy map is changing, capital is more competitive, and we must reach investors with the financial and technical capacity that may not be readily available locally,” he said.

He emphasised that in the face of energy transition pressures, countries endowed with hydrocarbons must intensify investment attraction efforts “or be left behind.”

Addressing concerns about the credibility of past issues where newly registered companies beat long-established firms to win oil blocks, Komolafe explained that the Commission had completely re-engineered the licensing guidelines to prevent weak bidders from securing assets.

He said the revised rules now prioritise proof of technical competence, financial capacity, and credible development plans, rather than the mere age of a company or the size of signature bonus pledges.

“Development of an asset is driven by human capital, technology, and funding, not the date of incorporation of a special-purpose vehicle,” he said. “A newly registered company with the right expertise and funding can develop an asset faster than an older one without capacity.”

The commission, he added, has now introduced a Bid Guarantee Requirement, compelling bidders to provide financial guarantees to ensure they proceed to field development once awarded a block. “This gives the country comfort. If a winner fails to develop the asset, the bidder loses, not Nigeria,” he said.

Komolafe further disclosed that the era of using inflated signature bonus promises to win licences, only for winners to default later, had ended. “Signature bonus is no longer a winning criterion. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has lowered the entry barrier to ensure genuine investors with capacity emerge,” he said.