The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission has kicked off the Nigeria 2025 Licensing Round, pushing fresh momentum into the Federal Government’s investment drive for the oil and gas industry.
Gbenga Komolafe, Commission Chief Executive of NUPRC, on Monday unveiled the bid portal, br2025.nuprc.gov.ng, during a press briefing at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
Komolafe said the launch aligns with efforts to expand investment, strengthen transparency, and deepen exploration activities in the upstream sector.
He recalled that the 2022 Mini-Bid Round and the landmark 2024 Licensing Round were executed with “unprecedented transparency, global competitiveness, and strong investor engagement.”
He added that the 2024 round concluded without a single litigation and drew commendations from NEITI and other stakeholders.
Backed by Presidential approval, the commission has now placed 50 oil and gas blocs on offer across onshore, shallow water, frontier basins, and deepwater terrain.
“A breakdown of the blocs includes 15 onshore blocs, 19 shallow water blocs, 15 frontier assets and One deepwater bloc,” he said.
Komolafe explained that the 2025 exercise aims to boost reserves, raise production output, expand gas utilisation, and create thousands of jobs.
He said it would also enhance indigenous participation and reinforce transparency in line with global EITI standards.
According to him, signature bonuses have been reduced to attract more players, while fresh multi-client surveys and extensive seismic data reprocessing have been undertaken to de-risk exploration. “This, the commission noted, sharply reduces uncertainty, lowers entry costs, accelerates time to first oil or gas, and enhances investor confidence.”
The licensing round is projected to pull in about $10bn in investments, add as much as two billion barrels to reserves over the next decade, and generate up to 400,000 barrels per day from fully developed assets. Komolafe said the commission has published bidding guidelines on its website as part of measures to ensure a seamless and credible process.
He confirmed that a two-stage bidding procedure—qualification and bid submission—will be used. Reinforcing this, he stated that the NUPRC has introduced a fully digital system for the licensing process. He stressed that company age or date of incorporation is not a barrier, noting that evaluation will focus strictly on technical capacity, professionalism, and financial strength.
Komolafe said, “The qualification stage involves the submission and evaluation of applications by interested parties or consortia in accordance with the Regulation and the Guidelines.
“Only applicants who are adjudged qualified and subsequently shortlisted by the Commission shall proceed to the Bid Stage and will be required to execute a Confidentiality Agreement prior to participation.”
He added that at the bid stage, shortlisted entities will submit their technical and commercial bids as specified by the commission. “Given our commitment to transparency and alignment with best practices, the bid process will be automated and digital,” he said.
