By Obiabin Onukwugha
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) says it is targeting fresh investments worth $10 billion, an equivalent of N14.4billion, and an additional two billion barrels to the national oil reserves over the next 10 years with the official launch of the 2025 licensing Round Portal – br2025.nuprc.gov.ng.
NURPC Chief Executive, Engineer Gbenga Komolafe, stated this at a press conference in Abuja on Monday. He revealed that 50 oil and gas blocks are on offer across onshore, swamp/shallow water, frontier basins, and deepwater terrain.
The breakdown of the blocks, according to Komolafe, include; 15 onshore blocks, 19 shallow water blocks, 15 frontier assets and 1 deepwater block, pointing out that when fully developed, these blocks can deliver an estimated 400,000 barrels per day.
The NUPRC boss outlined the key objectives of the 2025 Licensing Round, which include boosting Nigeria’s reserves, increasing production capacity, expanding gas utilisation, creating thousands of jobs across the value chain, enhancing indigenous participation, and reinforcing Nigeria’s commitment to transparency in line with EITI principles.
Komolafe stated that the commission adopted a two-stage bidding process designed to guarantee credibility, investor confidence and fairness as prescribed by Section 73 of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021.
“The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission is proud to formally announce the commencement of the Nigeria 2025 licensing round and the launch of the licensing round online portal br2025.nuprc.gov.ng.
“This announcement is in line with Section 73 of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, which prescribes a fair, transparent and competitive bidding process. Further to this, the NUPRC, following the gracious approval of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, has listed 50 oil and gas blocks across onshore, swamp/shallow water and offshore terrains spanning diverse basins. Of these 50 blocks, 15 are onshore assets; shallow water 19; frontier 15, and 1 deep water asset.
“The Nigeria 2025 licensing round is therefore expected to attract about $10 billion in investments and add up to 2 billion barrels of oil output over the next 10 years with an estimated 400,000 barrels/Day of production volumes when the blocks are fully operational,” he said.
The NUPRC boss stressed that transparency remained central to the 2025 bid round, which will run for six months. According to him.
The 2025 round builds on the gains of the 2024 licensing round, where the commission introduced digital platforms, automated workflows and improved data access to speed up the bid process.
Komolafe said the process begins with a qualification stage, where applicants or their consultants must submit extensive documentation for evaluation, adding that only shortlisted firms will proceed to the bid stage, where they will sign confidentiality agreements and submit both technical and commercial proposals.