FG opens 2026 oil licensing round, offers 40 blocks to investors

The Federal Government has opened the 2026 Nigerian oil licensing round, offering 40 petroleum blocks across land, shallow water and deepwater terrains as it intensifies efforts to attract fresh investment into the upstream sector.

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission announced the licensing round on Tuesday, with its Chief Executive Officer, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, saying the exercise followed approvals from President Bola Tinubu and the Minister of Petroleum Resources.

Eyesan made the announcement during her closing remarks at the fifth anniversary celebration of the NUPRC in Abuja.

She said the blocks would be available to investors with the required technical competence, financial capacity and commitment to developing Nigeria’s petroleum resources.

“This round offers 40 blocks across land, shallow water and deepwater terrains. I can see my IOC is already permutating. They are open to investors with the technical competence, financial capability and, above all, the commitment to develop Nigeria’s petroleum resources,” Eyesan said.

Transparency, disclosure to guide process

The NUPRC boss said the 2026 licensing round would place greater emphasis on transparency, predictability and equal treatment of bidders.

She said the new guidelines would require every bidder to disclose its beneficial owners, while the evaluation methodology and results of the exercise would be published more fully.

Eyesan said the commission had incorporated recommendations from the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative following its review of the 2022–2024 licensing rounds.

According to her, NEITI found the previous processes generally professional, transparent and inclusive, but identified areas for improvement, including evaluation methodology, disclosure of results, public access to bidding information and beneficial ownership disclosure.

She said the commission had accepted the recommendations and would implement them in the 2026 exercise.

The NUPRC chief also stressed that petroleum acreage would no longer be awarded at the discretion of officials, saying the Petroleum Industry Act had established competitive bidding as the basis for awarding Petroleum Prospecting Licences and Petroleum Mining Leases.

Investors get clearer timetable

Eyesan said the commission would publish the bidding timetable at the outset and adhere to it, noting that investors needed certainty to secure board approvals, mobilise funds and prepare their bids.

The commission is also expected to strengthen communication with prospective investors through its licensing website and portal, virtual data room, webinars and a dedicated help desk.

She added that all material clarifications would be communicated to every participant to ensure that no bidder gained an advantage from information unavailable to others.

The announcement followed the conclusion of the 2025 licensing round, in which 143 companies submitted 200 bids, with 31 companies emerging as winners of 37 blocks.

The commission said the exercise also generated investor interest in frontier basins beyond the traditional Niger Delta producing areas, including the Anambra Basin, Benue Trough, Chad Basin and Benin Basin.

Since the Petroleum Industry Act came into force in 2021, the NUPRC said it had conducted three licensing exercises — the 2022 Deep Offshore Mini Bid Round, the 2024 Nigerian Licensing Round and the 2025 Nigerian Licensing Round — resulting in the award of 57 Petroleum Prospecting Licences.

The regulator said the new licensing round would also support Nigeria’s efforts to increase crude oil and condensate production and expand gas reserves.

Eyesan said assets offered in previous licensing exercises, subject to successful development, could add about 500 million barrels of reserves and at least 300,000 barrels per day of crude oil and condensate production within five years.

She said the expected additions would support Nigeria’s target of reaching three million barrels per day of oil production by 2030.

The assets are also expected to contribute about 20 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves and 50 million standard cubic feet of gas per day in production, in support of the Federal Government’s Decade of Gas initiative.

However, Eyesan warned prospective successful bidders that winning an oil licence would come with an obligation to develop the awarded assets.

“To those who will win, my message remains the same: Drill or Drop. A licence is a commitment to Nigeria, not a trophy on the wall,” she said.

The NUPRC said full details of the 40 blocks, qualification requirements and participation procedures would be published on its website and dedicated licensing portal in the coming days.