ABUJA: The Federal Government has announced that 13 of the 50 oil and gas blocks offered during the 2025 Licensing Round will be returned to Nigeria’s licensing basket after they failed to attract investor bids.
The disclosure was made on Tuesday by the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, during the 2025 Commercial Bid Conference held in Abuja.
According to Eyesan, although 50 oil and gas blocks were made available to investors, only 37 blocks attracted commercial interest from prospective bidders.
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.
Despite the 13 unsold assets, Eyesan described the licensing round as a success, revealing that 143 companies participated in the commercial bidding process by submitting about 200 bids for the available oil blocks.
We have a total of 143 companies showing interest in 200 bids. That, for us, was remarkable, and I must say thank you, she stated.
She noted that investor appetite for Nigeria’s upstream petroleum industry has improved significantly, stressing that nearly 300 companies initially expressed interest when the licensing exercise commenced.
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, Eyesan added.
The NUPRC boss explained that the number of interested companies was gradually reduced through the commission’s screening process.
According to her, the prequalification stage narrowed the number from nearly 300 companies to 196, before the technical and commercial evaluation stages eventually produced 143 qualified firms that proceeded to submit bids.
The 2025 Licensing Round, announced on November 11, 2025, under the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, offered 50 oil and gas blocks located across seven sedimentary basins in Nigeria.
The assets include:
- 16 Niger Delta onshore blocks
- 18 shallow water blocks
- One deep offshore block
- Three Benin Basin blocks
- Four Anambra Basin blocks
- Four Chad Basin blocks
- Four Benue Trough blocks
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.
Registration and prequalification submissions closed on February 27, 2026, with the evaluation process completed on March 16, 2026.
The Federal Government explained that winners will not automatically emerge based on the highest financial offer.
Instead, bids are being assessed through a weighted evaluation system that combines:
- Signature bonus commitments;
- Proposed exploration and work programmes;
- Performance security;
- Technical competence; and
- Commercial strength.
The evaluation framework is designed to ensure that Nigeria’s petroleum assets are awarded to investors with the financial capacity, technical expertise and operational capability needed to accelerate oil and gas exploration, boost production and attract long-term investment into the country’s upstream sector
