The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) on Tuesday said the submission of technical and commercial bids by prequalified applicants for the 2025 licensing round will close on Friday, June 12, at 4:30 p.m.
The commission in a post on its official X handle on Tuesday said the closure aligns with the 2025 licensing round guidelines.
“The NUPRC hereby notifies the general public that submission of technical and commercial bids by prequalified applicants for the 2025 Licensing Round closes on Friday, June 12 2026, at 16.30 hours (WAT) in line with the 2025 Licensing Round Guidelines,” the commission said.
A licensing round is a process by which the government grants oil and gas exploration and production rights to companies through a competitive bidding process.
The licensing round
In December last year, the NUPRC opened bidding for 50 oil and gas blocks, aiming to attract $10 billion in investment.
Of these 50 blocks, the commission said 15 are onshore assets, 19 are shallow water assets, 15 are frontier assets, and one is a deep water asset.
At the time, the commission said the bidding would add 2 billion barrels of oil output over the next decade, with an estimated 400,000 barrels per day of production volumes when the blocks are fully operational.
The commission also stated that the 2025 block licensing round would last for approximately six months, noting that it has adopted a two-stage bidding process for the award of the blocks, comprising a qualification stage and a bid stage.
Earlier in February, the NUPRC urged global investors to capitalise on opportunities in Nigeria’s 2025 licensing round.
Speaking at the opening of the 10th Anniversary of the Sub-Saharan Africa International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (SAIPEC) 2026 in Lagos, at the time, the commission’s Chief Executive, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, said the licensing round is designed to unlock Nigeria’s upstream potential under a more predictable and investor-friendly regulatory framework established by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.
ThePreview Media also reported in February that the commission announced the deadline for the registration and submission of applications for the pre-qualification stage. At the time, the NUPRC said it would close on Friday, 27 February, 2026.
In March, the NUPRC said it had completed the pre-qualification stage of the licensing round.
In a statement at the time, Eniola Akinkuotu, the regulator’s head of media and strategic communication, said successful pre-qualified applicants have been notified accordingly.
