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 failing to attract investor bids. The disclosure was made by the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, during the 2025 Commercial Bid Conference held in Abuja. The development comes as the government continues efforts to attract investment and boost exploration activities across Nigeria’s petroleum sector.
According to Eyesan, while 50 oil and gas blocks were made available during the licensing round, only 37 received representations from prospective investors. As a result, the 13 unattractive blocks will be reintroduced into the licensing basket for future opportunities. Despite this outcome, industry stakeholders view the overall response to the exercise as encouraging, considering the level of participation recorded.
The NUPRC boss revealed that 143 companies eventually took part in the commercial bidding process, submitting approximately 200 bids for the available assets. She described the turnout as remarkable and expressed appreciation to investors for their interest. Eyesan noted that the licensing round initially attracted interest from nearly 300 companies, which she said reflected a growing confidence in Nigeria’s upstream oil and gas industry.
She explained that the number of interested firms was reduced to 196 after the prequalification stage, before further technical and commercial evaluations narrowed the field to 143 participating companies. According to her, the strong response from investors suggests that ongoing reforms and regulatory improvements are beginning to restore confidence in the country’s energy sector, creating fresh opportunities for growth and investment.
The 2025 Licensing Round, announced in November 2025 under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, offered 50 oil and gas blocks spread across seven sedimentary basins. The assets include onshore, shallow water, deep offshore and frontier basin blocks. The Federal Government stated that winning bids will not be determined solely by the highest financial offer but through a weighted evaluation process that considers signature bonuses, work programmes and performance guarantees. The approach is aimed at ensuring that petroleum assets are awarded to capable investors with the financial strength, technical expertise and operational capacity needed to accelerate exploration and increase production in Nigeria’s upstream oil sector.
source: punch
