The Federal Government, yesterday, unveiled 50 oil and gas blocks for bidding, targeting about $10 billion in fresh investments and an additional 400,000 barrels per day in national production.
In the long term, the government hopes to deliver 10 billion barrels of oil over the next decade.
Announcing the bid round in Abuja, the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Engr. Gbenga Komolafe, said the blocks, spread across onshore, swamp/shallow water and offshore terrains, comprise 15 offshore assets, 19 frontier acreages and one deepwater block.
Komolafe said the Nigeria 2025 Licensing Round is designed to deepen exploration, grow reserves, boost government revenue and expand employment opportunities across host regions.
He listed the core objectives to include reserve growth, increased production capacity, and creation of thousands of direct and indirect jobs spanning technical roles, logistics, supply chain, infrastructure and local content services.
He added that the round aims to expand gas utilisation in line with global energy transition trends, strengthen transparency consistent with Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) principles, enhance indigenous participation, and contribute to long-term global energy sufficiency.
To attract investment, Komolafe revealed that the government has reduced signature bonuses and has taken deliberate steps to de-risk exploration.
“The Commission understands that in today’s volatile global energy landscape, certainty and predictability have become the true currencies of investment,” he said.
“Through extensive multi-client surveys, the NUPRC has reprocessed thousands of kilometres of 2D and 3D seismic data, producing sharper, higher-resolution images of our petroleum systems and reducing uncertainties that once hindered exploration decisions.”
According to him, investors will benefit from higher-quality geophysical datasets, lower exploration risks, improved discovery probabilities, faster appraisal timelines, reduced entry costs and quicker progression from licensing to first oil or gas.
Komolafe stressed that the 2025 licensing round reflects President Bola Tinubu’s directive that Nigeria must not only be open for business but “irresistible for investment”, offering a more transparent, data-rich and investor-friendly environment.
VANGUARD.
