…Assures Transparent, Rules-based Process
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has announced the opening of 50 oil and gas blocks in five sedimentary basins of the country for bidding and exploration in the 2025 licensing round.
The commission’s Chief Executive, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, who made this disclosure on Wednesday during the 2025 licensing round pre-bid webinar, said the exercise was designed to remove any form of speculative participation and ensure a transparent, rules-based process for long-term investment.
The NUPRC boss outlined the framework, evaluation criteria, and commercial terms guiding the bid process, stressing that only technically competent and financially strong firms will be allowed to scale through the bidding process.
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According to her, the licensing round should be seen as a strategic intervention by the government to grow reserves, improve production, and strengthen Nigeria’s energy security in a rapidly evolving global energy landscape
Describing the upstream sector as serious business for long-term investment, Eyesan assured that the bid represented an open invitation to partnership, transparency, and shared responsibility as the stakeholders work together to shape the next phase of Nigeria’s upstream oil and gas industry.
To ensure transparency of the process, she said the commission had adopted a strictly merit-based approach that places technical competence and financial capacity at the centre of the selection process.
The NUPRC boss said: “Only candidates with strong technical and financial credentials, professionalism, and credible plans will move forward. Winners will be chosen through a transparent, merit-based process that takes you from award to exploration, appraisal, and ultimately full production.
“In this licensing round, 50 oil and gas blocks across Nigeria are available, allowing investors to access the country’s key basins and create long-term value”, she added.
Eyesan hinted that with the approval of President Bola Tinubu, the Commission had reviewed the commercial structure of the bid round to lower entry barriers while discouraging unserious bidders.
This is even as she disclosed that signature bonuses for the 2025 licensing round had been set within a $3m–$7m range, with greater emphasis placed on work programmes and speed to production, adding that the new structure places greater emphasis on technical capability, credible work programmes, and speed to production, rather than aggressive cash bids, as Nigeria competes for mobile global capital amid tightening energy security and supply.
She expatiated: “With the approval of His Excellency, President Bola Tinubu, signature bonuses for the 2025 licensing round are now set within a value range of $3m–$7m that reduces entry barriers and places greater weight on what truly matters, technical capability, credible work programmes, financial strength, and the ability to deliver production within the shortest possible time.
“This has been done deliberately to increase competitiveness and in response to capital mobility. The upstream sector is serious business. It is for long-term investment, and it is an open invitation to partnership, transparency, and shared responsibility”, the industry expert added
Noting that the licensing round follows a five-stage process comprising registration and pre-qualification, data acquisition, technical bid submission, evaluation, and a commercial bid conference, Eyesan said that the entire exercise would comply strictly with the Petroleum Industry Act 2021, with digital tools deployed to ensure transparency and public accountability.
Specifically, she assured that the bid process will comply with the Petroleum Industry Act, promote the use of digital tools for smooth data access and remain open to public and institutional scrutiny through NEITI and other oversight agencies.
In his technical presentation to participants at the event, the NUPRC’s Director of Lease Administration, Exploration and Acreage Management, Amber Ndoma-Egba, said the 2025 licensing round cuts across the Chad Basin, Benue Trough, Anambra Basin, Bida Basin, and the Niger Delta Basin, pointing out that the technical evaluation will focus on subsurface understanding, exploration work programmes, development concepts, sustainability, host community plans, and lifecycle management.
The Director explained: “We look at your understanding of the block, your subsurface evaluation, your exploration work programme, your development and production concept, sustainability, decarbonisation objectives, and host community development. Technically weak firms will not scale through this process.
“We have seven sedimentary basins in Nigeria. We have the Sokoto Basin, the Chad Basin. We have the Benin trough, Bida Basin, Anambra Basin, Benin Basin, and, of course, the mature Niger Delta Basin. This licensing round will take place across five of the seven sedimentary basins,” Ndoma-Egba added.
It would be recalled that on December 1, 2025, the NUPRC announced the formal commencement of the 2025 petroleum licensing round, targeting about $10 billion in new investments.
