31 firms Win 37 Oil, Gas Blocks in Nigeria's 2025 Bid Round

Thirty-one companies have emerged as preferred winners of 37 oil and gas blocks in Nigeria's 2025 Licensing Round, opening the way for fresh exploration and investment across established petroleum areas and frontier basins.

The outcome followed a commercial bid conference held in Abuja on Tuesday, where the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) reviewed bids submitted for the blocks offered in the licensing round.

The exercise attracted 143 companies, which submitted about 200 bids for 37 of the 50 blocks put up for competition. The remaining 13 blocks received no bids.

The successful bids cover a wide range of locations, including the Niger Delta onshore, shallow water and deep offshore areas, as well as the Benin, Anambra and Chad basins and the Benue Trough.

The outcome is important because of the interest shown in Nigeria's frontier basins, which have historically attracted less exploration activity than the country's established oil-producing areas. Increased investment in these regions could help Nigeria expand its petroleum reserves, open up new areas for exploration and create opportunities for local businesses and oilfield service companies.

For the Federal Government, the licensing round offers an opportunity to bring new investors into the upstream sector while generating revenue through signature bonuses and, eventually, petroleum production. However, the real value of the awards will depend on whether the successful companies move from securing the blocks to carrying out exploration and developing commercially viable discoveries.

The NUPRC described the interest in the frontier basins as a major outcome of the licensing exercise, pointing to the Benue Trough, Chad Basin, Anambra Basin and Benin Basin as areas that attracted significant investor attention.

The successful bidders 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.

Successful firms face development deadlines

The companies have not yet received final awards. They must first pay the required signature bonuses and obtain approval from the Minister of Petroleum Resources, in line with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.

The awards could help Nigeria attract fresh capital into an upstream industry that has faced years of underinvestment, ageing infrastructure and production challenges. New exploration activity could also increase the country's reserves and create a pipeline of future production, although these benefits will depend on how quickly and effectively the companies develop the blocks.

NUPRC Chief Executive Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan congratulated the successful bidders and urged them to complete the required payments and begin work on the assets without unnecessary delays.

He also warned that companies that fail to develop their awarded blocks could lose them under the commission's "drill or drop". policy, which requires operators to either undertake agreed exploration activities or relinquish assets they do not develop.

The commercial bid conference was monitored by officials from the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Federal Ministry of Finance and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), among other stakeholders, as part of efforts to ensure transparency and compliance with applicable laws.

The process now moves to the award and development stage. Its success will ultimately depend not simply on the number of blocks awarded, but on the exploration work that follows, the discoveries made and the speed at which commercially viable assets are brought into production.