The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has given the 31 companies that emerged provisional winners of 37 oil and gas blocks in the 2025 licensing round 60 days to complete payment of signature bonuses and other post-award requirements.
The commission issued the directive as part of the next stage of the licensing process, warning that companies that fail to meet the conditions within the stipulated period risk losing their provisional awards to reserve bidders.
NUPRC disclosed this in a notice posted on its official X handle, exactly one month after the 2025 commercial bid conference held in Abuja.
The commission said the provisional winners had already been issued their awards and had commenced compliance with the signature bonus payment requirement.
“Exactly a month ago the commission held the 2025 commercial bid conference in Abuja, where 31 companies emerged as provisional winners of 37 blocks. Having issued the winners with the provisional awards, compliance with the payment of signature bonuses has already begun,” NUPRC said.
Under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), the successful bidders were granted a 90-day period from the date of their offer letters to pay signature bonuses, provide required guarantees, pay first-year rents, complete documentation and execute the relevant contractual agreements.
With 30 days of the compliance window already elapsed, the companies now have 60 days remaining to satisfy the conditions.
NUPRC warned that failure to comply would lead to the forfeiture of bid guarantees and provisional awards, with the affected blocks subsequently offered to reserve bidders.
At the commercial bid conference on July 21, NUPRC Chief Executive Officer, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, cautioned the provisional winners that emerging successful bidders did not automatically translate into the award of Petroleum Prospecting Licences (PPLs).
She said the companies must fulfil all post-award requirements before the licences could be formally issued.
Eyesan said the process was being conducted in accordance with the PIA 2021 and assured stakeholders that the licensing round would remain transparent and competitive.
She also warned that the commission would apply the “drill-or-drop” principle to companies that fail to develop assets after securing licences.
According to her, while NUPRC would enforce development obligations, credible operators facing genuine operational challenges would receive regulatory support.
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, said the PIA had effectively ended discretionary allocation of oil blocks in Nigeria.
“The PIA, unfortunately for some people, has prevented discretionary allocation of oil blocks,” Lokpobiri said, stressing that no government official had prior access to the commercial bids before their official opening.
The minister said the government would no longer tolerate the practice of holding oil licences as speculative assets without developing the underlying fields.
“In the past, I have seen people go round conferences across the world carrying licences and looking for partners who never came. Those days must be over. The licences issued today must translate into actual field development and production,” he said.
Reserve Bidders on Standby
Under the terms of the licensing round, any winner that fails to fulfil the post-award conditions within the 90-day window will forfeit its bid guarantee and lose the block.
The affected asset will then be offered to the reserve bidder ranked immediately behind the provisional winner.
Several of the 37 blocks have multiple reserve bidders, with PPL 2A29, PPL 2A32, PPL 2A50 and PPL 2A51 each having four reserve bidders.
Among the provisional winners are SSonic Petroleum Limited, Asharami Deepwater Resource Limited, Gupsco Energy Limited, Blackrock Energy Holdings Limited, Star Deep Water Petroleum Limited and Concept-Real Petroleum Services Limited.
Concept-Real Petroleum Services Limited emerged as winner of two blocks, PPL 2A47 and PPL 2A55.
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The licensing round also covered Nigeria’s frontier basins. Dakoda and U Limited secured blocks in the Benin Basin and Benue Trough, while Nikstalis Nigeria Limited, Attabason Global Company Nigeria Limited, Southborne Oil and Gas Limited and Lanaka Petroleum Limited secured onshore blocks in the Anambra Basin.
NNPC E&P Limited did not emerge as a provisional winner but was listed as a reserve bidder for PPL 2A32 in the Niger Delta onshore terrain.
NUPRC said the 37 blocks awarded under the licensing round are expected to add about 500 million barrels to Nigeria’s crude oil reserves.
The commission also projects that the assets could contribute at least 300,000 barrels per day to national crude production within three years.
The expected increase forms part of the Federal Government’s broader ambition to raise Nigeria’s oil production to three million barrels per day by 2030.
