The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission has officially launched the 2025 Licensing Round, introducing a digital bid portal as the country moves to deepen investment and strengthen activities in the upstream sector.
The Commission Chief Executive, Gbenga Komolafe, announced the launch on Monday during a press briefing at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja, where he unveiled the portal: br2025.nuprc.gov.ng.
Komolafe said the portal was developed to expand investment opportunities, improve transparency, and deepen exploration across Nigeria’s oil and gas value chain.
He recalled recent licensing initiatives, including the 2022 Mini-Bid Round and the 2024 Licensing Round, which he described as highly transparent and globally competitive.
According to him, the 2024 Licensing Round concluded without litigation and received commendations from the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and other stakeholders.
50 blocks approved for bidding
With the approval of President Bola Tinubu, NUPRC has placed 50 oil and gas blocks on offer across several terrains, including onshore, shallow water, frontier basins, and deepwater.
“A breakdown of the blocks includes 15 onshore blocks, 19 shallow water blocks, 15 frontier assets and one deepwater block,” he said
He added that the 2025 round aims to boost Nigeria’s reserves, raise production capacity, expand gas utilisation, enhance indigenous participation, and create thousands of jobs.
Komolafe explained that the commission has reduced signature bonuses to attract more investors, following the president’s approval. He also highlighted major efforts to de-risk exploration, pointing to extensive multi-client surveys and enhanced seismic data reprocessing.
“This, the commission noted, sharply reduces uncertainty, lowers entry costs, accelerates time to first oil or gas, and enhances investor confidence.
“The 2025 Licensing Round is projected to attract about $10 billion in investments, add up to two billion barrels to national oil reserves over the next decade, and deliver an estimated 400,000 barrels per day from fully developed assets.
“At the Commission, we acknowledge that transparency is key to investor confidence. To ensure that the bidding process is credible and seamless, the Commission has rolled out guidelines which are now available on its website,” he said
Two-stage fully digital bidding process
The NUPRC has adopted a two-stage procedure consisting of a qualification stage and a bidding stage. Komolafe emphasised that the entire process is automated and fully digital to ensure transparency and alignment with global best practices.
He said the commission will not limit participation based on the age or date of incorporation of bidding companies. Instead, the assessment will focus strictly on technical competence, professionalism, and financial capability.
- The qualification stage involves the submission and evaluation of applications by interested parties or consortia in accordance with the Regulation and the Guidelines.
- Only applicants who are adjudged qualified and subsequently shortlisted by the Commission shall proceed to the Bid Stage and will be required to execute a Confidentiality Agreement prior to participation.
- At the bid stage, shortlisted applicants or bidders shall submit their Technical and Commercial Bids in accordance with the Regulation, the Guidelines, and any other bidding documents issued by the commission.
Komolafe said the bid process will be automated and digital to reflect the commission’s commitment to transparency and global best practices.
