Thirty-one companies have emerged winners of 37 oil and gas blocks following a competitive bidding process under Nigeria’s 2025 Licensing Round.

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) announced the successful bidders in a statement issued on Tuesday.

This follows a commercial bid conference held at the Transcorp Event Centre in Abuja on July 21, 2026.

What the regulator is saying

The NUPRC said 37 of the 50 blocks on offer attracted bids, while the remaining 13 received no bids.

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  • “After a keenly contested bidding process, 31 companies have emerged winners of 37 oil and gas blocks at the 2025 Licensing Round which held at the Transcorp Event Centre in Abuja on July 21, 2026,” the Commission said.
  • “These blocks were drawn from diverse terrains including the Niger Delta Onshore (16), Niger Delta Shallow Water (18), Niger Delta Deep Offshore (1), Benin Basin Onshore (3), Anambra Basin Onshore (4), Chad Basin Onshore (4) and Benue Trough (4),” the Commission said.
  • “This is the first time in Nigeria’s energy history that frontier basins would attract such level of investor interest,” NUPRC said.

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 and Gupsco Energy Limited.

  • Other winners include 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 and Riparian Development and Production Limited.
  • The list also includes Nikstallis, Stardeep Petroleum, Dakoda & U Limited, Southborne Oil and Gas Limited, Lanaka Petroleum, Highban Resources Limited and Eyre Energy Limited.

NUPRC Chief Executive, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, urged the successful bidders to pay their signature bonuses without delay and commence development of the awarded assets.

Eyesan warned that companies that fail to develop their assets could risk losing them under the Commission’s “drill or drop” provision.

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The 2025 Licensing Round attracted bids across all the terrains included in the offering, including the country’s frontier basins.

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  • The Niger Delta Onshore accounted for 16 blocks, while the Niger Delta Shallow Water accounted for 18.
  • The Niger Delta Deep Offshore had one block, while the Benin Basin Onshore had three.
  • The Anambra Basin Onshore, Chad Basin and Benue Trough each had four blocks.
  • The 37 blocks that attracted bids were spread across both established terrains and frontier basins, including the Benue Trough, Chad Basin, Anambra Basin and Benin Basin.

The Commission said the winning companies would be presented with final awards after the payment of the appropriate signature bonuses and approval by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, in line with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.

The commercial bid conference was monitored by representatives of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and other stakeholders in line with applicable laws.

What you should know

Nairametrics had earlier reported that the regulator had opened bids for 50 oil and gas blocks across five sedimentary basins for bidding and exploration in the 2025 licensing round in January.

  • The NUPRC said it had reduced the signature bonus for the round to between $3 million and $7 million.
  • The new bonus, which has presidential approval, is a reduction from the $10 million paid in 2024 and a huge drop from the approximately $200 million required some years ago.

The NUPRC had in December 2025 officially launched the 2025 Licensing Round, introducing a digital bid portal as the country moves to deepen investment and strengthen activities in the upstream sector.