The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has announced that the 2025 Oil Licensing Round will officially commence on December 1, 2025.
The Chief Executive of the Commission, Engr. Gbenga Komolafe, made the announcement at the Project 1MMBOPD Additional Production Investment Forum held in London on Tuesday.
In a post shared on X (formerly Twitter), the NUPRC quoted Komolafe as saying:
“We are announcing that we are ready under the approval of the Minister of Petroleum Resources in line with the PIA commence the 2025 licensing round beginning from December 1, 2025.”
According to the Commission, the new licensing round is designed to unlock Nigeria’s undeveloped and fallow oil and gas fields, with particular emphasis on gas-rich assets that can support the nation’s energy transition goals.
According to Komolafe, the initiative seeks to accelerate upstream production and bring previously discovered but unexploited fields into commercial operation.
What you should know
In December 2024, the Federal Government successfully concluded its first licensing round under the PIA 2021, with several indigenous oil and gas firms awarded Petroleum Prospecting Licences (PPLs), granting them rights to explore and produce hydrocarbons from onshore and offshore blocks.
Licensing rounds have long been a cornerstone of Nigeria’s oil and gas investment strategy. Major rounds were held in 2000, 2005, and 2007, while more targeted exercises for marginal fields and deepwater blocks took place in subsequent years. However, many of the awarded blocks have faced challenges, including technical bottlenecks, funding gaps, and regulatory delays.
In June, the regulator dismissed allegations of irregularities in the 2024 oil block licensing round, asserting that the process strictly adhered to the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 and its licensing guidelines.
The agency stated that the bidding process was transparent, competitive, and driven by technology.
It emphasized that the commercial bidding phase was conducted digitally with encrypted systems to ensure data integrity, and results were announced live, witnessed by NEITI and key government stakeholders.
The 2025 round, coming amid renewed efforts to achieve the government’s target of 1 million barrels per day (1MMBOPD) incremental production, is expected to feature improved regulatory clarity and investor-friendly terms under the PIA framework.
The NUPRC is set to publish comprehensive guidelines ahead of the exercise, detailing the available blocks, pre-qualification criteria, application procedures, and submission timelines to ensure transparency and global investor confidence.
NUPRC earlier reported a strong resurgence in activities across the country’s oil and gas upstream sector, highlighted by a remarkable rise in rig count from eight in 2021 to 69 as of October 2, 2025.
