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 investor bids.
The Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, disclosed this on Tuesday during the 2025 Commercial Bid Conference in Abuja.
According to Eyesan, the government offered 50 oil and gas blocks across the country’s sedimentary basins, but investors submitted bids for only 37 of them.
“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 unsold blocks, Eyesan described the exercise as successful, revealing that 143 companies submitted nearly 200 commercial 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.
She noted that investor appetite for Nigeria’s upstream sector had improved significantly, recalling that almost 300 companies initially indicated interest in the licensing round.
“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 said.
She explained that the number of interested firms was reduced during the prequalification stage, with 196 companies meeting the initial requirements before the final commercial bidding process.
“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, launched 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.
The assets include 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 bid process commenced with the opening of the portal on December 1, 2025, while a pre-bid conference was held in Lagos on January 14, 2026, to brief prospective investors on the bidding framework.
Registration and prequalification submissions closed on February 27, 2026, while the prequalification exercise was concluded on March 16.
Under the evaluation process, successful bidders will be selected based on a combination of technical and commercial criteria, including signature bonus commitments, proposed work programmes and performance security, rather than financial offers alone.
The NUPRC said the approach is intended to ensure that oil and gas assets are awarded to investors with the financial capacity, technical expertise and operational capability required to boost exploration and increase hydrocarbon production in Nigeria.