A total of 143 companies have advanced to the final commercial bidding stage of Nigeria’s 2025 Licensing Round, competing for 50 oil and gas blocks across the country’s major hydrocarbon basins.

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission said the qualifying bidders would take part in a Commercial Bid Conference at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja, open only to companies that passed the prequalification screening. The round covers 16 onshore blocks in the Niger Delta, 18 shallow water blocks, one deep offshore block, three onshore blocks in the Benin Basin, four in the Anambra Basin, four in the Chad Basin and four in the Benue Trough.

The commission said bids would be evaluated using a mix of commercial and technical criteria, including signature bonus offers, work programme commitments and performance security, with the combined weighted scores determining the winners. The round was announced in November 2025 under the Petroleum Industry Act, with the bid portal opening in December and a pre bid conference held in Lagos in January 2026. Prequalification applications closed in late February, with evaluation completed in mid March.

Of 286 companies that initially applied, 196 met the requirements to proceed to the technical and commercial bid stage, and 143 of them ultimately submitted a combined 200 bids to reach the final conference. The commission said the exercise is part of ongoing efforts to attract investment into Nigeria’s upstream sector and expand exploration activity in line with the objectives of the Petroleum Industry Act.