The Federal Government on Tuesday confirmed that 37 investors that participated in the commercial bids of 50 oil and gas blocks were awarded blocks at the conclusion of the 2025 Licensing Round exercise, and that 13 oil and gas blocks would be returned to the national licensing pool based on unsuccessful bids for the assets.
The disclosure was made in Abuja during the 2025 Commercial Bid Conference, where the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, reviewed the outcome of the exercise.
She said the government offered 50 oil and gas blocks for the bidding round, but investors submitted bids for only 37 following which the remaining 13 oil and gas blocks will return to the licensing basket.
Eyesan described the 2025 Licensing Round as successful with 143 companies that took part in the commercial bidding process and submitted about 200 bids for the available assets.
- Advertisement -
She recalled that at the commencement of the bidding round exercise, investors’ interest was even stronger with almost 300 companies expressing interest before the prequalification stage reduced the number to 196.
The NUPRC boss said: “From the almost 300 expressions of interest we received, the prequalification process narrowed the number to 196 companies. Eventually, 143 companies participated in the commercial bidding exercise, submitting about 200 bids.”
The 2025 Licensing Round, which was launched in November 2025 under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, offered 50 oil and gas blocks across seven sedimentary basins, namely 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 licensing process began with the opening of the application portal in December 2025 and was followed by a pre-bid conference held in January this year in Lagos, registration and prequalification processes were rounded off in February and the NUPRC completed technical and commercial evaluations in March.
Under the licensing framework, authorities assessed bidders using several factors, including signature bonus commitments, proposed work programmes, technical expertise, financial strength and performance guarantees. The process aims to award the oil and gas blocks to investors with the capacity to expand exploration and boost production in the country.
