The Federal Government has announced that 13 oil and gas blocks offered during the 2025 Licensing Round will be returned to the licensing pool after they failed to attract investors during the commercial bidding process.
The Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, disclosed this on Tuesday at the 2025 Commercial Bid Conference held in Abuja.
She explained that although the government placed 50 oil and gas blocks on offer, investors submitted bids for only 37, leaving 13 assets without any representation.
“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.
The NUPRC boss described the level of participation in the licensing exercise as encouraging, revealing that 143 companies submitted nearly 200 bids for the available assets.
“We have a total of 143 companies showing interest for 200 bids. That, for us, was remarkable, and I must say thank you,” she stated.
Eyesan said the licensing round initially attracted interest from almost 300 companies, which she described as evidence of growing 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 said.
She explained that the number of interested firms dropped to 196 after the prequalification exercise, before further screening at the technical and commercial evaluation stages reduced the field to 143 companies that eventually took part in the commercial bid process.
The 2025 Licensing Round was unveiled on November 11, 2025, in accordance with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, with 50 oil and gas blocks offered across seven sedimentary basins.
The available assets comprised 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 another four in the Benue Trough.
The online bid portal opened on December 1, 2025, while a pre-bid conference was held in Lagos on January 14, 2026, to guide prospective investors through the bidding process.
Registration and submission of prequalification documents closed on February 27, 2026, with the screening exercise concluding on March 16.
Under the evaluation framework adopted for the licensing round, successful bidders are selected using a weighted assessment that combines signature bonus commitments, proposed work programmes and performance security, alongside technical and commercial scores, rather than relying solely on financial offers.
The Federal Government said the approach is intended to ensure that oil and gas assets are awarded to investors with the financial capacity, technical competence and operational capability required to boost exploration and increase production in Nigeria’s upstream petroleum sector.
