Nigeria has 220 open oil blocks across its onshore and offshore basins, according to data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.

This comes amid rising national debt and persistent crude supply challenges affecting local refineries.

The data shows that the deep offshore region holds the largest share, with 59 unlicensed blocks—underscoring the vast untapped potential in one of the country’s most technically demanding and capital-intensive areas.

The Benue Trough has 41 open blocks, followed by the Chad Basin with 40. The Sokoto Basin accounts for 28, while the Bida Basin has 16 available blocks.

Notably, even in Nigeria’s more mature basins, several blocks remain inactive.

The offshore Niger Delta—long regarded as the cornerstone of Nigeria’s oil production—still has seven open blocks. In the Anambra Basin, 13 blocks remain unlicensed, while both the Benin Basin and the onshore Niger Delta each have eight available blocks.

According to a recent NUPRC publication, 24 oil blocks were awarded through the 2022/2023 deepwater mini bid round and the 2024 licensing round.

Citing notable progress in exploration, development, and production, the commission affirmed that Nigeria’s deepwater terrain holds substantial hydrocarbon potential.

“A testament to the richness of its resources is commercial discoveries and prolific historical productions of the NNPC Exploration and Production Limited’s Abo field, Chevron Nigeria Limited’s Agbami Field, Yinka Folawiyo’s Aje field, TotalEnergies Upstream Nigeria Limited’s Akpo and Egina fields, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company’s Bonga field, and ESSO Exploration and Production Usan and Erha fields, among others,” the report said.

Nigeria’s deepwater terrain has emerged as the new bride of international oil companies amid ongoing portfolio rationalisation and divestment efforts. However, the deep offshore region remains largely underexplored, primarily due to its technical complexity and high development costs.

“Characteristically, the deep offshore terrain presents complexity in accessibility, technology, investment, and facility deployment, which potentially explains its status as largely underexplored and underdeveloped.

“Empirical data indicates that there are about 59 open block opportunities in deep offshore Nigeria, which accounts for about 27 per cent of total open blocks in Nigeria and 80 per cent of open blocks in the prolific Niger Delta and its offshore terrains,” it stated.

As of January 1, 2025, Nigeria’s deepwater terrain accounted for approximately 19% of the country’s oil reserves and 12% of its gas reserves. Industry analysts argue that these figures reflect a stark disconnect between Nigeria’s vast resource potential and its actual production output, as well as the country’s untapped wealth and rising debt burden.

Given Nigeria’s heavy reliance on oil revenues, the large number of unlicensed and undeveloped oil blocks continues to constrain income generation, pushing the country further into debt.

By the first quarter of 2025, Nigeria’s debt stock had surpassed N149 trillion. Meanwhile, the nation remains dependent on fuel imports, as local refineries grapple with persistent crude supply shortages.

According to a report by the Debt Management Office, Nigeria’s total public debt rose to N149.39 trillion as of March 31, 2025—reflecting a year-on-year increase of N27.72 trillion or 22.8% compared to N121.67 trillion in the same period of 2024.

The continued rise in debt stock is attributed to fresh borrowings by the Federal Government and the depreciation of the naira, which increased the local currency value of external debt.

This surge occurred amid persistent fiscal pressures and a sustained reliance on both domestic and foreign borrowing to finance public expenditure.

A map published by the NUPRC highlights extensive acreage across Nigeria’s maritime boundary, much of which remains untouched.

While landmark offshore projects such as Bonga, Agbami, Egina, and Akpo stand out as success stories, they remain exceptions in a region still largely characterised by unlicensed and undeveloped blocks.