Nigeria to hold 2025 bid round for undeveloped fields

LAGOS, December 20, 2024 – Nigeria plans to auction undeveloped oil and gas blocks with known discoveries in 2025, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission said on Wednesday.

The announcement was made at the 2024 Commercial Bid Conference in Lagos. The 2025 auction will emphasise undeveloped fields with significant discoveries that have been handed back to the state, and a further focus is on the development of natural gas and Nigeria’s contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The conference also announced the winners of the 2024 bid round which was launched in May. 31 oil licences were awarded to 25 companies, among which only one was an IOC, TotalEnergies.

Gbenga Komolafe, head of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, said, “The licensing round is more than a commercial exercise. It is a bold declaration that Nigeria is ready for business.”

The bid round will be the third since the overhaul of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry in 2021 with the Petroleum Industry Act, which intends to increase oil production to fund government spending.

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