FG offers 50 oil, gas blocks in 2025 licensing round, targets $10bn in investments

Gbenga Komolafe, Commission's Chief Executive of NUPRC

The federal government has listed 50 oil and gas blocks across onshore, swamp/shallow water and offshore terrains spanning diverse basins, as it commences the 2025 licensing round.

Announcing the commencement of the Nigeria 2025 licensing round and the launch of the licensing round online portal br2025.nuprc.gov.ng. on Monday, Gbenga Komolafe, Commission Chief Executive (CCE), Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) said that the licensing round is expected to attract about $10 billion in investments.

The round is also expected to 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.

“Consolidating on the achievements of the 2024 Licensing Round, 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, 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 Komolafe said in a statement issued to journalists.

The key objectives of the Nigeria 2025 Licensing Round according to the Commission includes to grow oil and gas reserves through aggressive exploration and development efforts; Increase Nigeria’s production capacity and government revenue.

Others include to create direct and indirect jobs, from technical oil-field roles to supporting services (logistics, supply chain, infrastructure, local content providers) especially in regions where blocks are located.

The federal government also aim to expand opportunities for gas utilisation and development in Nigeria, in view of energy transition; reinforce Nigeria’s commitment to openness and transparency in line with the principles of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) as well as enhance indigenous participation to drive skills development, knowledge retention, and effective technology transfer within the sector.

The Commission also explained that as a business enabler and in line with President Tinubu’s approval has also reduced the applicable signature bonuses in order to attract investments.

Read also: NUPRC to offer 50 oil, gas blocks in December licensing round

“The Commission understands that in today’s volatile global energy landscape, certainty and predictability have become the true currencies of investment. The NUPRC has therefore moved to de-risk exploration.

“Through extensive multi-client surveys, the Commission has reprocessed thousands of kilometers of 2D and 3D seismic data, producing sharper, higher-resolution images of our petroleum systems and reducing the uncertainties that once hindered exploration decisions.

“For investors, this means entering a market where uncertainty is shrinking and where opportunity is backed by the richest, highest-quality subsurface data available anywhere in Africa. This wealth of high-quality geo-physical datasets means lower exploration risk, improved probability of discovery, faster appraisal timelines, reduced entry costs and accelerated journey from licensing to first oil or gas.”

Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date