The Federal Government has announced the immediate opening of bids for 50 oil and gas blocks, a move projected to attract $10 billion in new investments and increase national oil production by an estimated 400,000 barrels per day.
Over the next ten years, the government also aims to secure 10 billion barrels of oil in the long term.
Details of the 2025 Licensing Round
Announcing the bid round in Abuja, Engr. Gbenga Komolafe, the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, confirmed that the blocks are spread across various terrains, specifically onshore, swamp/shallow water, and offshore. The 50 blocks include 15 offshore assets, 19 frontier acreages, and one deepwater block.
Komolafe stated that the Nigeria 2025 Licensing Round is strategically designed to achieve key national objectives, including deepening exploration activities, growing the nation’s reserve base, boosting government revenue streams, and expanding employment opportunities across the host regions. The core goals were listed as reserve growth, increased production capacity, and the creation of thousands of direct and indirect jobs across multiple sectors such as technical roles, logistics, supply chain, infrastructure, and local content services.
The licensing round also aims to expand gas utilisation in alignment with global energy transition trends, enhance transparency consistent with Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative principles, strengthen indigenous participation in the sector, and contribute significantly to long-term global energy sufficiency.
To make the process more attractive, Komolafe revealed that the government has implemented a reduction in signature bonuses and taken deliberate steps to de-risk exploration. He emphasized the government’s understanding of the current global investment climate by quoting, “The Commission understands that in today’s volatile global energy landscape, certainty and predictability have become the true currencies of investment.”
Komolafe further highlighted the steps taken to improve data quality, stating, “Through extensive multi-client surveys, the NUPRC has reprocessed thousands of kilometres of 2D and 3D seismic data, producing sharper, higher-resolution images of our petroleum systems and reducing uncertainties that once hindered exploration decisions.”
Investors who participate in the bid round are expected to benefit from several advantages, including higher-quality geophysical datasets, lower exploration risks, improved discovery probabilities, faster appraisal timelines, reduced entry costs, and quicker progression from licensing to first oil or gas.
The Chief Executive stressed that the 2025 licensing round directly reflects President Bola Tinubu’s directive that Nigeria must not only be open for business but “irresistible for investment”, thus offering a more transparent, data-rich, and investor-friendly environment.
