The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has said companies with the highest financial bids will not automatically emerge winners in the ongoing 2025 Oil and Gas Licensing Round.
The commission said technical expertise, operational capacity and the ability to deliver sustainable development of oil and gas assets would be key considerations in selecting successful bidders.
The Chief Executive of NUPRC, Mrs Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, stated this on Wednesday at the 2025 Commercial Bid Conference in Abuja.
Eyesan said the evaluation process was designed to ensure that oil and gas assets were awarded to companies capable of maximising their value through efficient exploration and production.
She explained that the assessment considered bidders’ technical competence, industry experience, organisational strength, proposed work programmes, resource commitment and ability to execute projects within agreed timelines.
“The evaluation was rigorous. It was objective. It was simple. And it was to place assets in the hands of bidders capable of delivering the best overall long-term value.
“It isn’t going to be just about your ability to be the highest bidder. We want to ensure that you have the right capabilities to deliver the assets, in addition to having the financial resources,” Eyesan said.
The NUPRC chief executive assured participants that the commercial bidding process was transparent, adding that no bidder had access to the financial offers of competitors before the official opening.
“Nobody has seen anybody’s commercial bids. And we will demonstrate that today,” she said.
Eyesan noted that the licensing framework was aimed at ensuring that oil assets were operated by credible and competent companies rather than those capable only of submitting the highest financial offers.
The commercial bid opening represents the final stage of the licensing exercise before the announcement of successful bidders.
The 2025 Licensing Round was launched on Nov. 11, 2025, under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, with 50 oil and gas blocks offered across seven sedimentary basins in Nigeria.
The available assets comprise 16 onshore blocks in the Niger Delta, 18 shallow water blocks, one deep offshore block, three blocks in the Benin Basin, four in the Anambra Basin, four in the Chad Basin and four in the Benue Trough.
The bid portal opened on Dec. 1, 2025, while a pre-bid conference was held in Lagos on Jan. 14, 2026, to guide prospective investors through the application process.
Registration and prequalification submissions closed on Feb. 27, with the qualification process completed on March 16.
Under the licensing framework, successful bids are determined through a weighted evaluation system that considers signature bonus commitments, proposed work programmes and performance security, combining both technical and commercial scores.
The commission said the approach was intended to ensure that oil and gas assets were awarded to operators with the expertise, financial strength and operational capability to drive growth in Nigeria’s upstream petroleum sector.
