…As NUPRC approves 120 FDPs, records $47bn investment commitments in 5 years
The federal government yesterday opened the 2026 Nigerian Licensing Round, putting 40 oil blocks across onshore, shallow-water, and deepwater up for bid as regulators seek to deepen investor interest following the award of 37 blocks in the earlier 2025/2026 exercise.
The chief executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Mrs Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, announced the licensing round in Abuja on Tuesday at the commission’s fifth anniversary.
This is as President Bola Tinubu urged the NUPRC to insist on compliance and accountability across the petroleum industry.
The president, who was represented at the event by Vice-President Kashim Shettima, said operators benefiting from government incentives must fulfil their commitments on work programmes, local content, environmental protection and host-community development.
The President also urged the commission to remain transparent, fair and independent, while publicly accounting for its own performance.
Meanwhile, the Commission’s chief executive, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, said the exercise was approved by President Tinubu, who is also the minister of Petroleum Resources.
Eyesan said the blocks were available to investors with the technical expertise, financial capacity and commitment to develop Nigeria’s petroleum resources.
She said the bidding process would require investors to disclose their beneficial owners, while the commission would publish the full evaluation results.
According to her, the measures are intended to strengthen transparency and position Nigeria to compete for capital in an increasingly competitive global market.
“Competition for upstream capital is fierce. Investors go where rules are clear, processes are predictable, and data can be trusted,” she said.
Eyesan said the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, had replaced years of regulatory uncertainty by establishing the NUPRC as an independent technical and commercial regulator.
She added that presidential directives had shortened contracting cycles and provided investors with greater fiscal certainty.
The NUPRC chief executive said Nigeria’s share of upstream capital commitments in Africa rose from four per cent in 2021 to 38 per cent in 2025.
She also disclosed that the commission had approved 120 Field Development Plans since 2024, backed by more than $47 billion in capital commitments.
Eyesan said the approved plans included major developments such as Bonga North, Ubeta, IMA and Usan.
She added that the projects were expected to generate royalties, employment, local-content opportunities, energy security and foreign exchange for the federation.
“These are not paper milestones. Behind those numbers are royalties, jobs, local content, energy security and foreign exchange for the federation,” she said.
The NUPRC boss said the commission’s first five years had focused on institution-building, while the next five years must be defined by measurable results.
She said resources in the ground could not fund national development unless they were converted into production, investment and commercialisation.
The licensing round comes amid increased drilling activity and a reported rise in Nigeria’s crude oil production.
The minister of state for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, said the number of active oil rigs had risen from fewer than 10 to more than 70.
He described the increase as evidence of an unprecedented drilling campaign in the upstream sector.
“When we came, we had less than 10 active rigs. So now we have over 70 active rigs,” Lokpobiri said.
The minister also said crude oil production had risen to 1.821 million barrels per day, representing an increase of more than 80 per cent from the less than one million barrels per day recorded before the Tinubu administration.
He urged the NUPRC to sustain efforts to unlock Nigeria’s crude oil reserves and translate them into economic value through increased production, investment and commercialisation.
Lokpobiri also charged the commission to ensure that Nigeria’s regulatory and fiscal frameworks remained globally competitive.
The minister of state for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, said Nigeria’s natural gas resources could provide the foundation for industrialisation, power generation, domestic energy security and regional economic development.
He said the federal government remained committed to creating the conditions required to unlock the country’s gas resources through the Decade of Gas Initiative.
The ministry’s permanent secretary, Patience Oyekunle, who represented the ministry at the event, said a healthy upstream investment environment was essential for a reliable gas supply.
She urged the NUPRC to continue strengthening regulatory predictability, improving transparency and facilitating timely approvals.
Adegbite Falade, who represented the Independent Petroleum Producers Group, said indigenous producers now accounted for more than 70 per cent of Nigeria’s crude oil output.
He said indigenous producers’ share had risen from about three per cent when the group was established more than a decade ago to 50 per cent last year.
Falade pledged the group’s support for the commission’s programmes over the next five years.
The national president of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, Femi Agoro, said foreign direct investment in the oil sector had risen from about four per cent before the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act to nearly 40 per cent.
Agoro pledged the union’s support for the federal government’s target of producing three million barrels of crude oil per day by 2030.
He, however, urged the NUPRC to address the pay disparity between permanent and contract workers in the upstream sector.
SOURCE: Leadership
