Indonesia's Pertamina Eyes Nigeria's 2026 Licensing Round

Indonesia's state-owned oil company Pertamina has signalled interest in Nigeria's upcoming 2026 oil licensing round, as the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) works to attract more international capital into the country's upstream sector.

The interest emerged from discussions between NUPRC Chief Executive Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, Indonesia's Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Arif Oegroseno, and Pertamina's Vice-President for Upstream Business Development, Toriq Abdat, according to a statement issued Sunday by NUPRC Head of Corporate Communications and Media Eniola Akinkuotu.

The talks covered investment opportunities in Nigeria and broader cooperation between the two countries as both seek to strengthen energy security and raise domestic oil production. Eyesan said Nigeria and Indonesia share similar priorities around energy security, resource utilisation and attracting investment.

Declining output pushes Pertamina abroad

Abdat said Pertamina is actively expanding internationally as declining production and changing discovery patterns at home push the company to look beyond Indonesia's borders.

"We have been given a mandate to expand our business internationally; we are now in other countries outside Indonesia. In Indonesia, we are producing only around 600,000 barrels. We are working on exploration towards deepwater, but we found more gas than oil. That is why we go outside Indonesia, Malaysia, then the Middle East, Iraq and Nigeria," he said.

Abdat explained that the company is particularly interested in assets that could deliver production relatively quickly, including existing producing fields and projects nearing completion.

"We would like to be in projects with governments. Producing assets, or near production, or before FID. Now we are looking at how we can help you reach the 3 million, and also help us provide more energy for our own consumption," he said, referring to a final investment decision, the point at which a company commits the capital needed to develop a project.

Nigeria pursues aggressive output growth target

Nigeria is targeting oil production of 3 million barrels per day by 2030, up from current output of about 1.6 million to 1.7 million barrels per day.

Eyesan said the NUPRC is using regular licensing rounds as one of the tools to expand investment and raise output toward that target. "We have very aggressive targets, 3 million barrels per day by 2030, and today we are at 1.6, 1.7. We are committed to the objective and the licensing round is one of the strategies we are utilising," she said.

The NUPRC has increasingly positioned licensing rounds as a regular source of new acreage rather than an occasional exercise.

The commission noted that its latest round attracted about 300 companies for 50 available assets, with 196 applicants qualifying for the bidding stage. At the close of bidding, 143 companies submitted 200 bids covering 37 assets, and the NUPRC subsequently announced 31 successful companies for 37 oil and gas blocks, while 13 of the 50 blocks on offer received no bids.

The blocks span onshore, shallow-water, deep offshore and frontier basins, including the Benue Trough, Chad Basin, Anambra Basin and Benin Basin. The commission said Nigeria's approach to allocating acreage will continue to offer predictable, periodic access to new opportunities.

Talks extend beyond oil to fertiliser cooperation

The Indonesian delegation also raised interest in opportunities beyond crude oil and gas, noting that Pertamina is building a fertiliser plant to reduce Indonesia's dependence on Middle Eastern supply amid disruptions linked to the current global conflict.

The delegation said food security is tied to oil and gas because phosphate and other elements used in fertiliser production come from similar resource bases.

Nigeria is separately diversifying its own phosphate sourcing, including through a long-term transatlantic pipeline project with Morocco intended to serve West Africa, and has simplified fertiliser distribution rules that previously involved about 160 layers of regulation.

Both sides agreed to continue pursuing commercial and diplomatic discussions in parallel, though no timeline was given for when Pertamina might submit a formal bid in Nigeria's 2026 licensing round.