NUPRC opens bidding for 40 oil, gas blocks Nov 20

By Obas Esiedesa, Abuja

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has announced that bidding for 40 oil and gas blocks under its 2026 licensing round will commence on November 20.

The Commission Chief Executive, Mrs Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, disclosed this on Monday during a roundtable discussion at the 2026 ADIPEC Exhibition and Conference in Abu Dhabi.

The discussion was titled, “Energy Sovereignty in an Interconnected World: Aligning National Priorities, Markets and Global Security.”

In a statement by the Commission, Eyesan urged international investors to take advantage of opportunities in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, saying improved security, attractive fiscal terms and incentives had made the country more competitive.

She said the Commission would open its bid portal on November 20 and expressed optimism that the investment conditions would attract interested investors.

“We are expecting investors to turn to Nigeria. We are going in for another licensing round and we will be launching our bid portal on November 20. We expect to see interested investors because the environment is a lot more competitive.

“We have set a very attractive fiscal framework for investors. The entire environment is a lot more secure. We have been able to manage costs with a lot of incentives for investors and we expect to see investors take up the offer when we open the portal,” she said.

Eyesan attributed the improvement in Nigeria’s investment climate to the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), enacted in 2021, and executive orders signed by President Bola Tinubu.

She said the Commission had conducted at least four successful licensing rounds between 2021 and 2026, attracting investments into the country’s oil and gas industry.

According to her, the development marked a departure from the pre-PIA era, when licensing rounds were less frequent, adding that the reforms had strengthened Nigeria’s competitiveness in attracting upstream investments.

On the country’s gas potential, Eyesan said Nigeria had an estimated 215 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves but was producing barely seven billion cubic feet per day, leaving significant opportunities for investors.

She said recently completed and planned gas infrastructure projects would help unlock supplies, improve domestic availability and position Nigeria to serve regional and international markets.

Eyesan cited the Nigeria-Morocco Atlantic Gas Pipeline and the Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline as two major projects being considered to transport gas to regional markets and Europe.

She said the projects, alongside other infrastructure developments, would help Nigeria meet domestic demand and supply gas to other markets.

The NUPRC chief executive noted that global competition for investment had intensified as more countries discovered petroleum resources and sought to attract international capital.

She said Nigeria was addressing concerns investors consider before committing funds, including execution risks, operating costs, project delays and policy uncertainty.

“We understand that investors will prize execution risk, cost, delays and also uncertainty and so what we have done in Nigeria is to ensure that we guard against these risks and then attract the investment required to enable us unlock the huge resources we sit on,” she said.