The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has announced the official commencement of the Nigeria 2025 Licensing Round, marking another major step in the Federal Government’s drive to enhance the sector.
Mr. Gbenga Komolafe, the Commission Chief Executive, NUPRC, on Monday, December 1, 2025, unveiled the dedicated bid portal: br2025.nuprc.gov.ng during a press briefing at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
Unveiling the portal, Komolafe said the development was in the bid to expand investment, strengthen transparency, and deepen exploration in the upstream sector.
The CCE recalled that recent licensing initiatives, particularly the 2022 Mini-Bid Round and the historic 2024 Licensing Round, were conducted with unprecedented transparency, global competitiveness, and strong investor engagement.
He said the 2024 Licensing Round was completed without a single litigation and earned commendations from the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and other stakeholders.
Komolafe said that, with Presidential approval from President Bola Tinubu, the NUPRC had now placed 50 Oil and Gas blocks on offer across onshore, swamp/shallow water, frontier basins, and deepwater terrain.
“A breakdown of the blocks includes 15 onshore blocks, 19 shallow water blocks, 15 frontier assets and One deepwater block,” he said.
He outlined the key objectives of the 2025 Licensing Round, to include boosting Nigeria’s reserves, increasing production capacity, expanding gas utilisation and creating thousands of jobs across the value chain.
Komolafe listed others as enhancing indigenous participation, and reinforcing Nigeria’s commitment to transparency in line with EITI principles.
He said as a business enabler, and with the president’s approval, NUPRC had also reduced signature bonuses to attract greater investment and participation.
He said to further de-risk exploration, the NUPRC had undertaken extensive multi-client surveys, reprocessing thousands of kilometres of 2D and 3D seismic data to deliver the highest-quality subsurface imagery available in Africa.
“This, the commission noted, sharply reduces uncertainty, lowers entry costs, accelerates time to first oil or gas, and enhances investor confidence.
“The 2025 Licensing Round is projected to attract about 10 billion dollars in investments, add up to two billion barrels to national oil reserves over the next decade, and deliver an estimated 400,000 barrels per day from fully developed assets.
“At the Commission, we acknowledge that transparency is key to investor confidence. To ensure that the bidding process is credible and seamless, the Commission has rolled out guidelines which are now available on its website,” he said.
The CCE said it had adopted a two-stage bidding process for the award of the Blocks, comprising a qualification stage and a bid stage.
Reinforcing its commitment to transparency, Komolafe said the NUPRC had also introduced a two-stage, fully digital bidding process, comprising a qualification stage and a bid submission stage.
According to him, winners will emerge at the commercial bid round and the Commission emphasised that the age or date of incorporation of bidding companies is not a limiting factor.
He added that the assessment would focus strictly on technical capacity, professionalism, and financial capability.
Komolafe said, “The qualification stage involves the submission and evaluation of applications by interested parties or consortia in accordance with the Regulation and the Guidelines.
“Only applicants who are adjudged qualified and subsequently shortlisted by the Commission shall proceed to the Bid Stage and will be required to execute a Confidentiality Agreement prior to participation.
“At the bid stage, shortlisted applicants or bidders shall submit their Technical and Commercial Bids in accordance with the Regulation, the Guidelines, and any other bidding documents issued by the commission.
“Given our commitment to transparency and alignment with best practices, the bid process will be automated and digital.”
Meanwhile, the NUPRC has reaffirmed its commitment to promoting inclusive development in the Niger Delta region, with particular focus on Persons with Disabilities (PWDs).
The Chief Executive Officer, NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe, made the remark during a one-day workshop organised by the Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) for PWDs, held in Port Harcourt, on Monday.
Komolafe, represented by Dr Ogechi Opete, the Deputy Director at NUPRC Port Harcourt Regional Office, acknowledged that the workshop, with the theme “Ending Barriers Against Niger-DeItans with Disabilities (EBANA), was apt.
He emphasised that the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 provided a legal framework for promoting social equity and inclusion in host communities.
Komolafe noted that the Host Community Development Regulations of 2022 mandates participatory, needs assessment, stakeholder engagement, and transparent governance structures.
The NUPRC chief executive officer stressed that PWD-inclusive planning was not optional, but a requirement for development projects, saying that representation of PWDs in governance structures was vital to ensuring their unique needs were met.
He said that the commission would ensure full compliance with the PIA and Host Communities Development Trust (HCDT) regulations, strengthen accountability, and support initiatives that promote equity and social harmony in host communities.
Earlier, the Acting Director of the CCD, Mr. Godwin Unumeri, stated that the workshop was aimed at finalising a regional demand charter for the inclusion of PWDs in the petroleum industry act benefit structures.
Unumeri stated that the organisation had developed a regional demand charter for the nine Niger Delta states, highlighting the needs of PWDs, including accessible infrastructure, education, and employment opportunities.
The acting director said that the stakeholders, including PWDs, policymakers, and advocates gathered to deliberate on measures to ensure that the PWDs demand charter would be included in the PIA’s host community development trusts, needs assessments, and budgets.
“The stakeholders will review and finalise the charter, which will be presented to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission to form a supplementary act for disability inclusion,” he said.
Unumeri appealed to NUPRC to develop a supplementary act that would ensure host community development trusts prioritises disability inclusion in their needs assessments, development plans, and budgets.
Also, Mr. Amadi Onyekwere, the Director of Petroleum Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resource, Abia, said that the initiative was a right step to ensuring that right and needs of the PWDs were recognised and properly addressed in the oil and gas sector.
Onyekwere said that the PIA was a landmark legislation governing Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, but that the PWDs were not properly considered.
He said that the situation could be changed by co-creating the charters demands of the PWDs.
He called on the HCDT to integrate disability related concerns, providing support for infrastructure development, economic empowerment and social services.
The director also called on Nigerian government and industry regulators to consider amendment of the relevant sectors of the PIA act to include appropriate qualified PWDs into relevant communities of the HCDT.
He also called on government to recognise state ministry vested with oil and gas portfolio in host communities mattered.
Onyekwere stated that the governor of Abia State, Dr Alex Otti, through the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, strongly advocated inclusivity in the membership of the trust.
He reaffirmed that Abia State Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources would always work with the government for effective implementation of the PIA for the good of the people.
The workshop drew stakeholders from across the nine states of the Niger Delta region
By Emmanuella Anokam and Precious Akutamadu