LAGOS, Nigeria — The Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has officially announced the 2026 Nigerian Licensing Round, offering 40 petroleum blocks across land, shallow-water and deepwater terrains as the Federal Government seeks to attract fresh investment into the country’s upstream oil and gas sector.
The Commission’s Chief Executive Officer, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, announced the licensing round, saying it had received the approval of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who also serves as Minister of Petroleum Resources.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the wait is over. It is with great joy that I announce that pursuant to the approval of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources, the Nigerian 2026 Licensing Round is hereby announced,” Eyesan said.
According to her, the 40 blocks are open to investors with the required technical competence, financial capability and commitment to developing Nigeria’s petroleum resources.
Eyesan said Nigeria must remain competitive in the global race for upstream capital, noting that investors have multiple destinations from which to choose.
“Investors have choices. They go where the rules are clear, where the process is predictable and where data can be trusted.”
Eyesan said the 2026 licensing round would build on the reforms introduced by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, which established the NUPRC and introduced a more transparent framework for the award of petroleum licences.
She stressed that petroleum acreage in Nigeria would no longer be awarded through discretionary processes.
“Of all the reforms the PIA brought, none speaks more to who we are than this: in Nigeria, petroleum acreage is won, not given. It is no longer discretionary,” she said.
Eyesan added that transparent and competitive bidding had become the established rule for awarding Petroleum Prospecting Licences and Petroleum Mining Leases.
The Commission also plans to strengthen transparency by publishing its evaluation methodology, providing fuller disclosure of licensing-round results and requiring bidders to disclose their beneficial.
The NUPRC CEO said the Commission would publish the licensing-round timetable at the beginning of the process and adhere strictly to it.
She referenced the 2025 licensing round, saying the Commission had faced scepticism over its ability to meet its announced timeline but ultimately delivered as scheduled.
“In 2025, when we published, there was a lot of scepticism about whether we would meet the timeline. And we proved all our skeptics wrong. We were right on time, not one day late,” Eyesan said.
She explained that predictable timelines are critical to investors because licensing decisions require board approvals, financial mobilisation and detailed investment planning.
“Investors must plan. Boards must approve. Funds must be mobilised. Every one of these decisions depends on dates that hold. We will certainly hold,” she stated.
Level playing field for investors
Eyesan further assured prospective bidders that all material clarifications during the licensing process would be made available to every participant.
“And every material clarification will be shared with all participants. No bidder will know what others do not,” she said.
She also emphasised that the guidelines would establish clear eligibility requirements, bid parameters, evaluation criteria and conditions of award.
According to Eyesan, these provisions would ensure that both Nigerian and international investors, regardless of size, compete under the same rules.
“The Nigeria 2026 Licensing Round guidelines will clearly set out the eligibility criteria, bid parameters, evaluation criteria and conditions of award. They will be applied consistently so that every eligible investor, large or small, Nigerian or international, competes on a level playing field.
Eyesan also issued a strong message to successful bidders, warning that winning a petroleum licence must translate into actual investment and development activity.
“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.
She said the Commission’s objective was to make Nigeria a more attractive destination for global hydrocarbon investment by improving the consistency and predictability of the award process and ensuring investors have access to reliable technical .
“We will put comprehensive, current and investment-ready technical data in the hands of bidders so that they can evaluate with confidence and bid competitively,” Eyesan said.
The 2026 licensing round represents another major test of Nigeria’s efforts to attract upstream capital, increase exploration and development activity, and translate the country’s petroleum resources into greater economic value.
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