Despite attracting nearly 300 interested companies and about 200 bids, the Federal Government says 13 oil and gas blocks failed to secure any offers and will be returned for future licensing…..
The Federal Government has revealed that 13 oil and gas blocks offered during the 2025 Licensing Round failed to attract any bids and will now be returned to the licensing basket for future allocation.
The announcement was made on Tuesday by the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, during the 2025 Commercial Bid Conference held in Abuja.
According to Eyesan, while the licensing exercise covered 50 oil and gas blocks across the country, investors submitted bids for only 37 of them, leaving 13 assets without any representation.
“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.
Although several blocks attracted no interest, the NUPRC boss described the overall outcome as encouraging, noting that 143 companies participated in the commercial bidding stage and submitted roughly 200 bids.
She explained that investor appetite for the exercise was evident from the outset, with almost 300 companies initially expressing interest in the licensing round before the field was narrowed through the commission’s screening process.
“When we started the journey, we got interest from almost 300 companies. That, in my view, was an indication that the tide has turned for Nigeria,” Eyesan said.
The commission said the number of interested firms dropped to 196 after the prequalification exercise, before 143 companies eventually progressed to the commercial bid phase.
The 2025 Licensing Round, announced on November 11, 2025, under the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, offered 50 oil and gas blocks spread 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 another four in the Benue Trough.
The bid portal officially opened on December 1, 2025, while a pre-bid conference was held in Lagos on January 14, 2026, to guide prospective investors through the bidding requirements. Registration and prequalification submissions closed on February 27, with the screening exercise completed on March 16.
Unlike previous licensing rounds where financial offers played the dominant role, the Federal Government said successful bidders in the current exercise will be selected through a weighted evaluation system that considers signature bonus commitments, proposed work programmes, performance security, and overall technical and commercial capacity.
The government believes the approach will ensure that oil and gas assets are awarded to investors with the financial strength, technical expertise, and operational capability needed to accelerate exploration and increase production in Nigeria’s upstream petroleum sector.
