The Federal Government has announced that 13 of the 50 oil and gas blocks offered in the 2025 Licensing Round will be returned to the licensing basket after failing to attract bids from prospective investors.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, disclosed this on Tuesday at the 2025 Commercial Bid Conference in Abuja.
Eyesan said although 50 blocks were initially offered, only 37 attracted interest from investors.
“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,” she said.
She disclosed that 143 companies participated in the commercial bidding process, submitting about 200 bids for the available assets.
Eyesan said nearly 300 companies initially expressed interest in the licensing round, describing the development as a sign of renewed investor confidence in Nigeria’s upstream petroleum sector.
“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.
According to her, the number of interested companies was reduced to 196 following the prequalification stage before the process moved to technical and commercial evaluations.
“From the almost 300 interests that we got, we moved to the pre-qualification stage, and that number was pruned down to 196,” she added.
The 2025 Licensing Round was launched on November 11, 2025, in accordance with the Petroleum Industry Act 2021, with 50 oil and gas blocks put up for bidding across seven sedimentary basins.
The assets include 16 Niger Delta onshore blocks, 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 bid portal opened on December 1, 2025, while a pre-bid conference was held in Lagos on January 14, 2026, to provide prospective investors with information on the bidding requirements.
Registration and prequalification submissions closed on February 27, 2026, with the prequalification process completed on March 16.
The winning bids are being determined through a weighted evaluation of signature bonus commitments, proposed work programmes and performance security, with technical and commercial scores considered rather than financial offers alone.
The framework is aimed at ensuring that Nigeria’s petroleum assets are awarded to investors with the financial capacity, technical expertise and operational capability needed to accelerate exploration and production in the upstream sector.
