Nigeria’s Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) is set to announce the winning bidders for 50 oil and gas blocks Tuesday at its Commercial Bid Conference in Abuja, closing an eight-month licensing exercise that regulators say could draw about $10 billion in fresh upstream investment.
President Bola Tinubu approved the 2025 Licensing Round on December 1, 2025, under the Petroleum Industry Act 2021. The round covers 50 blocks — 15 onshore, 19 shallow-water, 15 frontier basin blocks and one deep-offshore block — spanning the Niger Delta, Chad Basin, Benue Trough, Anambra Basin and Bida Basin.
Of 286 companies that initially applied, 196 were prequalified following a technical and financial screening process, with NUPRC saying firms carrying outstanding government liabilities, weak development records or regulatory non-compliance risked disqualification at any stage. Technical and commercial bid submissions closed June 12, after which 143 companies went on to submit a combined 200 bids.
NUPRC Chief Executive Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan said winners will be selected on a weighted combination of technical and commercial scores rather than price alone, with signature bonuses fixed within a set range of $3 million to $7 million per block; bids outside that range are automatically disqualified. In cases where two or more companies submit identical top bids for the same block, the commission said it will hold a sealed rebid to determine the winner.
Successful bidders will be awarded Petroleum Prospecting Licences and may operate under either a concession or production-sharing contract structure, with ministerial approval and formal contracting to follow the announcement. The exercise follows a similar bid round completed in 2024, whose winners — including Broron Energy, Sahara Deepwater Resources and Tulcan Energy — received their licences earlier this month, with NUPRC urging them to accelerate investment and meet host-community obligations.
