Nigeria’s upstream regulator on Monday announced the start of its 2025 oil licensing round, offering 50 blocks for bidding as Africa’s biggest crude producer seeks to boost output and attract new investment.
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) said the round includes 15 onshore blocks, 19 in shallow waters, 15 frontier assets, and one deepwater block.
The Nigeria 2025 licensing round is expected to attract about 10 billion dollars in investment and add up to 2 billion barrels of oil output over the next 10 years, with an estimated 400,000 barrels per day of production when fully operational, NUPRC chief executive Gbenga Komolafe told reporters at a press briefing in Abuja.
The licensing exercise, which received presidential approval from President Bola Tinubu, will last approximately six months. The commission launched a dedicated online portal at br2025.nuprc.gov.ng where investors can access detailed guidelines and participate in the bidding process.
Komolafe said the key objective of the licensing round is to grow oil and gas reserves through aggressive exploration and development efforts. This will help increase Nigeria’s production capacity and government revenue, create thousands of direct and indirect jobs, from technical oilfield roles to supporting services, logistics supply chain, infrastructure and local content, especially in regions where blocks are located.
The exercise will also expand opportunities for gas utilisation and development in Nigeria in the field of energy transition. The commission has moved to reduce exploration risks through extensive multi-client surveys, reprocessing thousands of kilometres of 2D and 3D seismic data to produce sharper, high resolution images of petroleum systems.
For prospective investors, this means entering a market where uncertainty is shrinking and where opportunity is backed by high quality subsurface data available anywhere in Africa, Komolafe explained. The NUPRC has also reduced applicable signature bonuses to attract investments, significantly lowering the entry barrier for potential participants.
The Nigeria 2025 licensing round is a major window for investments in Nigeria as it offers easier participation, transparency and comprehensive subsurface data. It further reflects President Tinubu’s charge to the commission that Nigeria must not only be open for business, but Nigeria must be irresistible for investment, the chief executive added.
The commission has adopted a two stage process covering qualification and bidding to ensure credibility and fairness. Interested companies are required to submit comprehensive documentation during the qualification phase. Those who scale through will then proceed to the bid stage, where they must sign confidentiality agreements and submit technical and commercial proposals.
Komolafe said awardees from last year’s licensing round have paid signature bonuses and are in various stages of exploration and development, but noted that new barrels take time to materialise. The fact that a licensing round was done last year does not immediately translate into additional barrels.
The 2025 round builds on reforms introduced in the 2024 bid exercise, including digitised workflows, improved data availability and streamlined evaluation procedures, all aimed at accelerating approvals and boosting investor confidence.
The licensing round is being conducted in accordance with provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, which guides upstream operations and licensing procedures in the country. The commission has identified blocks across onshore and offshore terrains spanning several diverse basins that will be made available to interested investors.
The commission reaffirmed its commitment to an open, fair, transparent, and competitive bid process. It is dedicated to partnering with entities that share dedication to excellence, safety, and environmental stewardship.
Detailed information, including the Licensing Round Guidelines, block descriptions, and participation instructions, are available on the dedicated portal and the commission’s website at www.nuprc.gov.ng.
Nigeria, which relies on oil for most of its export earnings, is seeking to revive production after years of underinvestment and security challenges in its oil rich Niger Delta region. The initiative comes as Nigeria seeks to reverse declining crude oil production and attract billions of dollars in investment needed to develop its estimated 37 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and 209 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves.
Licensing rounds have been a key feature of Nigeria’s upstream sector for decades. Major rounds were conducted in 2000, 2005 and 2007, while the 2010s saw smaller, targeted rounds for marginal fields and deepwater assets. These exercises were designed to attract investors and stimulate production, although some blocks awarded in earlier rounds stalled due to technical, financial or regulatory challenges.
The commission expressed optimism about stakeholder participation and the potential impact of the licensing round on Nigeria’s position in the global energy landscape. The exercise represents a significant push to attract fresh capital into Nigeria’s upstream petroleum sector under the framework established by the PIA 2021.
