The Federal Government has announced that 13 of the 50 oil and gas blocks offered under the 2025 Licensing Round will be returned to the licensing basket after failing to attract bids from investors.
The announcement was made on Tuesday in Abuja by the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, during the 2025 Commercial Bid Conference.
According to Eyesan, only 37 of the 50 blocks received investor representation, leaving 13 without bids.
She said the licensing round attracted strong investor interest, with 143 companies submitting about 200 bids for the available assets.
Eyesan revealed that nearly 300 companies initially expressed interest in the exercise, describing it as a sign of renewed confidence in Nigeria’s upstream petroleum sector. Following the prequalification process, the number of interested firms was reduced to 196 before 143 companies advanced to the commercial bidding stage.
The 2025 Licensing Round, announced on November 11, 2025, under the Petroleum Industry Act 2021, offered 50 oil and gas blocks across seven sedimentary basins. The assets include 16 Niger Delta onshore blocks, 18 shallow water blocks, one deep offshore block, three 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. Registration and prequalification submissions closed on February 27, with the evaluation process completed on March 16.
Winning bidders are being selected through a weighted assessment of signature bonus commitments, proposed work programmes and performance security. The government said the framework is designed to ensure oil blocks are awarded to investors with the financial capacity, technical expertise and operational capability to accelerate exploration and production.
