2026 Licencing Round: NUPRC Opens Bid Portal November 20, Offers 40 Oil, Gas Blocks

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) is set to officially open the bid portal for its 2026 Licensing Round on November 20, 2026, with 40 oil and gas blocks on offer.

The chief executive of NUPRC, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, announced this on Monday, November 2, 2026, while addressing investors in Abu Dhabi.

She urged them to look towards Nigeria and take advantage of the licensing round, saying the country offers a stable climate despite the global energy tension.

Eyesan spoke at a roundtable discussion titled, “Energy Sovereignty in an Interconnected World: Aligning National Priorities, Markets and Global Security,” at the 2026 ADIPEC Exhibition and Conference.

She said the Commission expects investors to turn to Nigeria as another licensing round gets underway.

“We are expecting investors to turn to Nigeria. We are going in for another licensing round and we will be launching our bid portal on November 20. We expect to see interested investors because the environment is a lot more competitive,” she said.

According to her, the Commission has put in place an attractive fiscal framework for investors, while the operating environment is more secure.

“We have set a very attractive fiscal framework for investors. The entire environment is a lot more secure. We have been able to manage costs with a lot of incentives for investors and we expect to see investors take up the offer when we open the portal,” she said.

Improved investment climate

The NUPRC boss noted that Nigeria’s investment climate has improved since the passing of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) in 2021 and the executive orders signed by President Bola Tinubu.

She stated that between 2021 and 2026, the NUPRC held at least four successful licensing rounds, which brought more investments into the country.

This is a departure from the period before the PIA, when licensing rounds were not frequent.

Eyesan said Nigeria has huge energy potential, as the country sits on 215 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas, yet daily production is barely 7 billion cubic feet (bcf).

She said this gap presents an opportunity for investors, especially as key gas infrastructure projects are already in the pipeline.

“The stars are already aligned. For gas infrastructure we just completed very major infrastructure projects that will unlock gas supply in the country and the sub-region,” she said.

She added that two major projects are on the drawing board to move gas through the Nigeria-Morocco Atlantic Gas Pipeline and the Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline.

“Again, this gas will go somewhere in Europe and will also meet regional demands. So, Nigeria is positioned to meet not just domestic supply,” the CCE stated.

Competition for investment

Eyesan maintained that the race for investments has become more competitive, with many countries now discovering petroleum resources.

She said Nigeria was already ahead of the game, having made certain modifications to attract the right capital.

“We understand that investors will prize execution risk, cost, delays and also uncertainty and so what we have done in Nigeria is to ensure that we guard against these risks and then attract the investment required to enable us unlock the huge resources we sit on,” the NUPRC boss said.