FG Offers 40 Oil Blocks As 2026 Licencing Round Opens

The federal government has launched the 2026 oil and gas licencing round, offering 40 blocks across land, shallow water and deepwater terrains to local and foreign investors.

Commission chief executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan,  announced the round on Tuesday in Abuja at the commission’s fifth anniversary. She said it had the approval of President Bola Tinubu, who is also Minister of Petroleum Resources.

Eyesan said the bidding process will require investors to disclose their beneficial owners, and the commission will publish the full evaluation results. She said the measures are meant to help Nigeria compete for capital in a tightening global market. The blocks, she added, are open to investors with the technical competence, financial strength and commitment to develop the country’s petroleum resources.

“Competition for upstream capital is fierce,” she said, adding that investors go where rules are clear, processes are predictable and data can be trusted.

She credited the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 with replacing years of regulatory uncertainty and establishing NUPRC as an independent technical and commercial regulator. She also credited presidential directives that shortened contracting cycles and gave investors fiscal certainty.

Eyesan said Nigeria’s share of Africa’s upstream capital commitments rose from 4 per cent in 2021 to 38 per cent in 2025. She added that since 2024 the commission has approved 120 field development plans (FDPs), backed by more than $47 billion in capital commitments. She said the first five years of the commission were spent building the institution, and the next five must show results.

Speaking at the event, the National President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Femi Agoro, said foreign direct investment in the oil sector has risen from about 4 per cent before the PIA to nearly 40 per cent.

Agoro pledged the union’s support for the Federal Government’s target of three million barrels per day by 2030. He also urged NUPRC to address the pay gap between permanent and contract workers in the upstream sector, in both international and local oil companies.

Adegbite Falade, who represented the Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG), said indigenous producers now account for more than 70 per cent of national crude output. He said their share was about 3 per cent when the group was formed over a decade ago and 50 per cent last year. He said the producers would work with the commission over the next five years.