Forty oil and gas blocks will be on offer in the 2026 Licensing Round, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), has confirmed.
The agency’s bid portal will open on November 20, 2026 for the sales, its Chief Executive, Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, disclosed.
She said this during a roundtable discussion titled ‘Energy Sovereignty in an Interconnected World: Aligning National Priorities, Markets and Global Security’ at the 2026 ADIPEC Exhibition and Conference in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
According to her, Nigeria offers a stable and competitive climate for investment amid global energy tensions and urged investors to take advantage of the round.
She added: “We are expecting investors to turn to Nigeria. We are going in for another licensing round and will be launching our bid portal on November 20. We expect to see interested investors because the environment is a lot more competitive.
“We have set a very attractive fiscal framework. 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.”
Nigeria’s investment climate has improved since the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) in 2021 and the executive orders signed by President Bola Tinubu, she said.
Between 2021 and 2026, the NUPRC held at least four successful licensing rounds that attracted fresh investments, a departure from the pre-PIA era when rounds were infrequent.
She spoke on Nigeria’s gas potential, saying the country sits on 215 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas reserves but produces barely 7 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d), presenting a huge opportunity for investors.
“The stars are already aligned. For gas infrastructure, we just completed very major projects that will unlock gas supply in the country and the sub-region.
“We have two major projects on the drawing board to move gas through the Nigeria-Morocco Atlantic Gas Pipeline and the Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline. This gas will go to Europe and will also meet regional demand. So Nigeria is positioned to meet not just domestic supply,” she stated.
She stated that with many countries discovering petroleum resources, competition for capital has intensified, but Nigeria has made modifications to stay ahead.