NUPRC Cuts Entry Barriers As Nigeria Targets $10bn From 2025 Licensing Round

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has launched the 2025 oil and gas licensing round, offering 50 exploration blocks to investors as the Federal Government seeks to attract at least $10bn in new capital inflows into the sector.

Speaking at the official launch of the bid round, the Commission’s Chief Executive, Dr. Gbenga Komolafe, said the exercise marks a major step toward expanding Nigeria’s reserves base, boosting production, and strengthening the country’s investment profile in the global energy market.

Komolafe announced a significant reduction in signature bonuses, describing it as a deliberate move to lower entry barriers and enhance competitiveness.

He said the decision aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directive that Nigeria must not only be open for business but must be “irresistible” to investors.

According to him, the 2025 licensing round will offer 15 offshore assets, 19 shallow-water blocks, 15 frontier acreages, and one deep-water asset.

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.

He 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.

Komolafe also disclosed that the Commission has invested heavily in acquiring, reprocessing, and interpreting thousands of kilometres of 2D and 3D seismic data, yielding high-resolution subsurface information that reduces exploration risks for investors.

He said certainty and predictability have become “the true currencies of investment,” especially in a volatile global energy landscape, adding that the availability of high-quality geophysical data offers investors lower exploration risks, reduced costs, and faster project timelines.

The NUPRC chief emphasised that emphasis during evaluation would be placed on technical competence, professional capacity, and financial capability rather than the age or date of incorporation of bidding companies.

The licensing round, he added, aligns with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, which mandates a fair, transparent, and competitive bid process.

The Commission has since published the list of assets on offer, guidelines, maps and other relevant information to guide prospective bidders.

Komolafe said the initiative is expected to create thousands of direct and indirect jobs, expand gas utilisation opportunities, enhance local content participation and contribute to long-term global energy security.

He urged investors at home and abroad to take advantage of the opportunity, describing the 2025 bid round as a major window for new investments into Nigeria’s upstream sector.