Nigeria to return 13 oil blocks to licensing basket after weak investor interest

THE Nigerian government says 13 of the 50 oil and gas blocks offered under the 2025 Licensing Round will be returned to the licensing basket after they failed to attract bids from prospective investors.

Speaking at the 2025 Commercial Bid Conference in Abuja on Tuesday, Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Ms Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, said only 37 of the 50 blocks received bids despite the wide range of assets on offer.

She explained that the remaining 13 blocks, which did not receive any representation during the commercial bid process, would be returned to the licensing basket for future opportunities.

Eyesan also disclosed that 143 companies took part in the commercial bid exercise, submitting about 200 bids for the available oil and gas assets. She described the level of participation as a positive outcome for the licensing round.

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According to her, the exercise initially attracted interest from nearly 300 companies, a development she said demonstrated growing confidence in Nigeria’s upstream petroleum industry.

She noted that following the prequalification exercise, the number of interested firms was reduced to 196 before progressing to the technical and commercial evaluation stages. Eventually, 143 companies advanced to the final commercial bidding phase.

The 2025 Licensing Round, announced on November 11, 2025, under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, offered 50 oil and gas blocks located across 7 sedimentary basins in Nigeria.

The assets include 16 onshore blocks in the Niger Delta, 18 shallow-water blocks, 1 deep offshore block, 3 blocks in the Benin Basin, 4 in the Anambra Basin, four in the Chad Basin and 4 in the Benue Trough.

The licensing process commenced with the opening of the bid portal on December 1, 2025, while a pre-bid conference was held in Lagos on January 14, 2026. Registration and prequalification submissions closed on February 27, with the screening process completed on March 16.

The government said winning bidders are being determined through a weighted evaluation that considers signature bonus commitments, proposed work programmes and performance security, combining technical and commercial assessments rather than financial offers alone.

The framework is aimed at ensuring that petroleum assets are awarded to companies with the financial resources, technical competence and operational capacity required to accelerate oil and gas exploration and production in Nigeria.