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 they failed to receive bids from investors.
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.
Eyesan explained that although 50 oil and gas blocks were made available for bidding, only 37 attracted interest from prospective investors.
"At the end of the exercise, we had 50 blocks on offer, but we only had representation for 37 of those 50 blocks.
"Thirteen of those blocks will be returning back to the basket," she said.
Despite the 13 unclaimed assets, Eyesan described the licensing exercise as a success, revealing that 143 companies participated in the commercial bidding stage and collectively submitted about 200 bids.
"We have a total of 143 companies showing interest for 200 bids. That, for us, was remarkable, and I must say thank you," she stated.
She noted that investor enthusiasm was significantly higher at the beginning of the exercise, with nearly 300 companies indicating interest in participating, a development she said reflected growing confidence in Nigeria's upstream petroleum industry.
"When we started the journey, we got interest from almost 300 companies. I repeat, almost 300 companies. That, in my view, was an indication that the tide has turned for Nigeria," Eyesan added.
According to the NUPRC chief executive, the number of interested firms was reduced to 196 after the prequalification process before further technical and commercial assessments produced the final list of 143 participating companies.
"From the almost 300 interests that we got, we moved to the pre-qualification stage, and that number was pruned down to 196," she explained.
The 2025 Licensing Round was officially launched on November 11, 2025, under the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021, with 50 oil and gas blocks offered across seven sedimentary basins.
The assets include 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 online bid portal opened on December 1, 2025, while a pre-bid conference was held in Lagos on January 14, 2026, to provide prospective investors with guidance on the bidding process.
Registration and submission of prequalification documents closed on February 27, 2026, and the prequalification exercise was completed on March 16.
The Federal Government said successful bidders will not be determined solely by the size of their financial offers. Instead, bids are being evaluated using a weighted assessment that considers signature bonus commitments, proposed work programmes, performance security, technical competence and commercial strength.
The evaluation framework is intended to ensure that oil and gas assets are awarded to companies with the financial capacity, technical expertise and operational capability needed to accelerate exploration and production activities in Nigeria's upstream petroleum sector.
ADEOLA KUNLE
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