Nigeria’s upstream regulator opened a licensing round for 40 oil and gas blocks on Oct. 6, offering new acreage in a year when its official reserve estimate declined.
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) put proved and probable oil and condensate reserves at 37.01 billion barrels as of Jan. 1, 2026, down 0.74% from its previous assessment. The regulator attributed the change to oil produced in 2025 and revised estimates informed by field performance and studies of underground formations.
The round covers blocks on land and in shallow and deep water. NUPRC has said it intends to make licensing regular, giving companies a clearer expectation of when opportunities to seek exploration acreage will arise.
Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) President Olajumoke Cecilia Ajayi called for more exploration in frontier areas, deeper drilling and renewed work on mature fields at an Oct. 8 conference in Lagos, Energy Focus Report reported. Her conference remarks have not been tied to the regulator’s specific 0.74% reserve revision.
In her own account of the event, Ajayi said indigenous operators need partners, technical expertise, workable rules and capital to turn access to assets into sustainable production and long-term value. NAPE had separately named appraisal drilling, redevelopment of mature fields and improved recovery from existing fields as priorities for increasing reserves.
The preceding licensing round drew 200 bids from 143 companies for 37 of the 50 blocks offered, NUPRC said. The other 13 blocks received no bids. At a July 21, 2026, conference for that round, 31 companies emerged as winning bidders for the 37 blocks.
Those results show both competition for some acreage and blocks that attracted no offers. Winning bidders still had to pay a signature bonus and secure ministerial approval before their awards became final.
NUPRC said fuller information on the new blocks and instructions for prospective bidders would follow. It gave no date for that publication.
