31 Companies Win 37 Oil and Gas Blocks in Nigeria's 2025 Licensing Round

Thirty-one companies have won 37 oil and gas blocks in Nigeria’s 2025 Licensing Round. This followed the commercial bid conference held in Abuja on Tuesday.

The bidding took place at the Transcorp Event Centre. A total of 143 companies submitted around 200 bids for 37 out of the 50 oil and gas blocks offered by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).

These blocks cover different areas, including the Niger Delta onshore, shallow water, deep offshore, and also the Benin, Anambra, and Chad basins as well as the Benue Trough.

While 37 blocks received bids, the other 13 did not get any offers.

The NUPRC called the result significant. They noted that this is the first time Nigeria’s frontier basins, such as the Benue Trough, Chad Basin, Anambra Basin, and Benin Basin, have drawn such strong interest from investors.

Some of the companies that won bids include SSonic Petroleum Limited, CFP Pipeline and Flowlines, Dutchford E&P Limited, Attabanson Global Company Limited, Rosem Energy Limited, Pivot-GIS Limited, Network E&P, Asharami, LexOil, BVOF, Gupsco Energy Limited, Saratoga, Volante, Concept-Reel Petroleum Services Limited, Clinton Oil Field, Nuway Oaklane Limited, Ramec, Italia, Blueridge E&P, Up Energies Limited, AYM Shafa, Blackrock Holdings Limited, Funtay Integrated Business Limited, Riparian Development and Production Limited, Nikstallis, Stardeep Petroleum, Dakoda & U Limited, Southborne Oil and Gas Limited, Lanaka Petroleum, Highban Resources Limited, and Eyre Energy Limited.

The commission mentioned that these companies will only get their final awards after paying the required signature bonuses. They also need to get approval from the Minister of Petroleum Resources, following the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.

After the event, the NUPRC Chief Executive, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, expressed gratitude to President Bola Tinubu for supporting a smooth licensing round.

She congratulated the winning bidders and urged them to pay their signature bonuses quickly and develop the awarded assets. She warned that any undeveloped assets could be taken back under the commission’s “drill or drop” policy.

The commercial bid conference was monitored by representatives from the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), and other stakeholders. This was done to ensure transparency and compliance with the relevant laws.