…Bidders Compete Across Seven Oil, Gas Basins
…Signature Bonus, Work Programme To Determine Successful Bidders
…Winners To Emerge After Commercial Bid Conference Tuesday
A total of 143 companies have submitted 200 bids to compete for 50 oil and gas blocks offered by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), setting the stage for one of Nigeria’s largest upstream licensing exercises under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), 2021.
The successful bidders are expected to emerge after the Commercial Bid Conference scheduled for Tuesday, where prequalified firms will participate in the final stage of the 2025 Licensing Round.
The bidding exercise spans seven petroleum provinces, with the 50 acreages comprising 16 onshore blocks in the Niger Delta, 18 shallow water blocks in the Niger Delta, one deep offshore block, three onshore blocks in the Benin Basin, four in the Anambra Basin, four in the Chad Basin and four in the Benue Trough.
The figures released by the commission showed that interest in the licensing round remained strong despite a rigorous screening process.
Out of 286 companies that initially submitted applications for prequalification, only 196 met the commission’s requirements to advance to the technical and commercial bid phase.
From the 196 prequalified firms, 143 companies eventually submitted 200 bids for the 50 oil and gas blocks, indicating that several firms bid for multiple acreages in anticipation of expanding their exploration and production portfolios.
In a statement on Monday by the Head of Media and Corporate Communications of the commission, Eniola Akinkuotu, NUPRC said the companies invited to the Commercial Bid Conference had successfully scaled through a transparent and rigorous evaluation process.
According to the commission, attendance at the conference is strictly by invitation.
“The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission has invited qualified companies to the highly anticipated Commercial Bid Conference slated for July 21, 2026.
“These companies which scaled through the transparent and rigorous process have been notified and are expected to physically attend the Commercial Bid Conference taking place at the Conference Center, Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja,” the statement said.
The commission explained that the commercial evaluation would be based on clearly defined parameters, including signature bonus commitments, work programme obligations and performance security commitments.
These factors, it said, would be assigned weighted scores to determine the successful bidders.
The 2025 Licensing Round was announced on November 11, 2025, in accordance with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act, while the electronic bid portal was opened on December 1, 2025, to commence registration.
To prepare prospective investors for the exercise, NUPRC held a Pre-Bid Conference on January 14, 2026, in Lagos, where participants were briefed on the guidelines and procedures governing the licensing process.
Registration and submission for prequalification closed on February 27, 2026, while the prequalification evaluation was completed on March 16, 2026.
Industry stakeholders are expected to closely monitor the outcome of the commercial bid conference as the successful award of the blocks is expected to stimulate fresh investments in oil and gas exploration, increase hydrocarbon reserves and support Nigeria’s drive to boost crude oil production and government revenue under the PIA regime.
The Federal Government had last year reduced the signature bonus for the 2025 oil block licensing round to between $3m and $7m.
This is a reduction from the $10m charged per block in the 2024 bid exercise.
According to the “FAQ’s on the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission 2025 Licensing Round,” the reduction represents a 70 per cent and 30 per cent crash.
The document stated, “The Nigerian government has graciously reduced the signature bonus to between $3m and $7m.”
It noted that the Minister of Petroleum Resources approved the new range to lower entry barriers.
NUPRC added, “All Bidders shall be required to submit a bid within a range of $3m and $7m as approved by the minister of petroleum for the reduction of entry barriers.”
The Commission clarified that the designated signature bonus account is United States dollar-denominated, confirming that it will not be paid in naira.
The NUPRC had said the licensing round will adopt a score-based evaluation system, assessing signature bonus submissions (within the prescribed limits), work programme, unit cost per barrel, professionalism, human and technical capacity, bank guarantee percentage, balance sheet strength, turnover, green initiatives, decarbonisation efforts and corporate governance.
On minimum financial requirements, the document said an average $100m is needed for deep offshore blocks and $40m for onshore and shallow water blocks.
It added that eligible bidders must meet an average annual turnover of $100m (deep offshore) or $40m (onshore/shallow water), or
Minimum cash in bank of the same amounts, or a bank guarantee of $100m(deep offshore) or $40m (onshore/shallow water).
For newly incorporated firms, a parent-company guarantee of equivalent value is required.
The NUPRC also stated that bidders, whether applying alone or in a consortium may not submit applications for more than two assets across all entries.
Any equity or management involvement in multiple consortiums will be aggregated and counted as a single bidder.
The Commission said applicants’ technical competence will be assessed based on experience in geological and geophysical capabilities, drilling and well engineering, reservoir evaluation and management, production engineering and technology, development planning as well as facilities engineering and management.
The Commission projects that successful development of these blocks could add up to 2 billion barrels in reserves over the next decade and deliver about 400,000 barrels per day when fully operational.
It noted that the process will be conducted through a fully automated, digital bidding platform to ensure transparency, predictability, and global competitiveness.
The exercise will follow a two-stage process, a qualification stage and a technical and commercial bid stage with guidelines already published on the Commission’s website.
ENDS
(The Whistler)
