The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has opened the 2026 Nigerian Licensing Round offering 40 oil and gas blocks across land, shallow water and deepwater terrains to investors.
The NUPRC Chief Executive Officer, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, announced the licensing round on Tuesday in Abuja during the commission’s fifth anniversary celebration, saying the exercise had received approval from President Bola Tinubu and the Minister of Petroleum Resources.
Eyesan said the blocks would be available to investors with the technical competence, financial capacity and commitment to develop Nigeria’s petroleum resources.
“Competition for upstream capital is fierce, and it grows fiercer by the day. Investors have choices. They go where the rules are clear, where the process is predictable and where data can be trusted,” she said.
The 2026 round will introduce additional transparency measures, including mandatory disclosure of the beneficial owners of bidders.
The commission will also publish its evaluation methodology and results more fully, following recommendations made by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) after its review of previous licensing rounds.
Eyesan said the measures were intended to provide greater certainty and equal treatment for investors throughout the bidding process.
She said the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 had replaced discretionary allocation of petroleum acreage with competitive bidding.
“Petroleum acreage is won, not given. It is no longer discretionary,” Eyesan said.
The commission said the bidding timetable would be published at the beginning of the exercise and adhered to, while prospective investors would have access to a licensing portal, virtual data room, webinars and a dedicated help desk.
It also said material clarifications provided to any bidder would be communicated to all participants to ensure a level playing field.
The new round follows the 2025 licensing exercise, in which 143 companies submitted 200 bids and 31 companies emerged winners of 37 blocks.
The previous round also attracted interest in frontier basins outside the traditional Niger Delta producing areas, including the Anambra Basin, Benue Trough, Chad Basin and Benin Basin.
Since the Petroleum Industry Act came into force, NUPRC said three licensing exercises have resulted in the award of 57 Petroleum Prospecting Licences.
Eyesan said the development of assets offered in previous licensing exercises could add about 500 million barrels to Nigeria’s reserves and at least 300,000 barrels per day of crude oil and condensate production within five years.
She said the expected production additions would support Nigeria’s target of reaching three million barrels per day by 2030.
The assets could also contribute about 20 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves and 50 million standard cubic feet of gas production per day, according to the commission.
However, Eyesan said winning an oil block would come with an obligation to develop it, signalling a tougher approach to inactive acreage.
“To those who will win, my message remains the same: Drill or Drop. A licence is a commitment to Nigeria, not a trophy on the wall,” she said.
NUPRC said full details of the 40 blocks, qualification requirements and participation procedures would be published on its website and dedicated licensing portal in the coming days.