The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has announced that its pre-bid conference, planned as part of the 2025 oil licensing round, will be held this month in Lagos.
The upstream regulator said the event will take place at 9am on Wednesday, January 14, 2026, at the Grand Ballroom, Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos, according to a statement obtained by Bavijas Energy on Thursday.
The announcement follows an earlier notice published in both local and international newspapers, in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), confirming a shift from the previously scheduled date of 17 December 2025. Roadshows planned for other cities (including Dubai, Beijing, Singapore and Houston) have also been rescheduled.
According to the Commission, the pre-bid conference will focus on key aspects of the licensing round, including the implementation timetable, bid package preparation, eligibility terms, and the assessment and winners’ determination procedure.
Interested stakeholders are encouraged to register via the dedicated portal, while additional details such as block descriptions and participation guidelines are available on the Commission’s website.
The announcement was signed by Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, the retired oil executive who assumed her new role as the Commission’s chief executive last month, following the removal of Gbenga Komolafe by President Bola Tinubu.
Her immediate task is to oversee one of Nigeria’s most significant oil and gas licensing rounds in decades. Eyesan has emphasised her commitment to working with stakeholders across the sector to boost oil production and increase gas output.
“The goal is that we must enable the industry—we are regulators. We must enable the industry through our interactions with stakeholders, through our interactions with everybody,” she said during her takeover ceremony last month. “My main objective is to ensure that we make a difference. I believe the NUPRC is at the centre of the industry.”
Launched by Komolafe in early December, the 2025 licensing round features 50 hydrocarbon blocks and is expected to attract significant interest from both domestic and international oil and gas players, as Nigeria continues to reposition its upstream sector under the PIA framework.
Entry barriers to the licensing round have been significantly lowered, thanks to new presidential directives aimed at encouraging investment in the oil sector.
For instance, the NUPRC has reduced the signature bonus “entry fee” to a maximum of $7m (with blocks in onshore and shallow water terrains priced as low as $3m) compared to the $10m seen in the 2024 round. The government has indicated it may further reduce or even waive bonuses to encourage exploration in frontier or less-proven basins.
The commission says the licensing exercise—the third since the PIA came into force—could add up to 2 billion barrels of oil to Nigeria’s reserves over the next decade, with an estimated 400,000 barrels per day likely to be added to national output when the blocks are fully developed.