BREAKING: FG to return 13 oil blocks to licensing basket after failing to attract investors

The Federal Government has announced that 13 oil and gas blocks offered during the 2025 Licensing Round will be returned to the national licensing pool after failing to attract investor bids.

The disclosure was made on Tuesday in Abuja by the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, during the 2025 Commercial Bid Conference.

According to Eyesan, the government offered 50 oil and gas blocks across various sedimentary basins, but only 37 attracted bids from prospective investors.

«”At the end of the exercise, we had 50 blocks on offer, but representations were received for only 37 of them. The remaining 13 blocks will be returned to the licensing basket,” she said.»

Despite the unbid assets, Eyesan described the overall response to the licensing round as encouraging, revealing that 143 companies participated in the commercial bid process, submitting about 200 bids for the available blocks.

She disclosed that the exercise initially attracted interest from nearly 300 companies, reflecting growing confidence in Nigeria’s upstream petroleum sector.

According to her, the number of interested firms was reduced to 196 after the prequalification stage before advancing to the technical and commercial evaluation phases.

«”From the almost 300 expressions of interest we received, the prequalification process narrowed the number to 196 companies. Eventually, 143 companies participated in the commercial bidding exercise, submitting about 200 bids,” Eyesan said.»

The 2025 Licensing Round, launched in November 2025 under the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, offered 50 oil and gas blocks across seven sedimentary basins.

The assets comprised 16 onshore blocks in the Niger Delta, 18 shallow water blocks, one deep offshore block, three blocks in the Benin Basin, four in the Anambra Basin, four in the Chad Basin, and four in the Benue Trough.

The licensing process began with the opening of the application portal in December 2025, followed by a pre-bid conference in Lagos in January 2026. Registration and prequalification closed in February, while the evaluation process was completed in March.

Under the licensing framework, successful bidders are selected based on a weighted assessment of their signature bonus commitments, proposed work programmes, technical competence, financial capacity and performance guarantees, with the objective of awarding the assets to investors capable of accelerating oil and gas exploration and production in Nigeria.

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