The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (“NUPRC”) has launched the 2026 Licensing Round, offering 40 oil and gas blocks across onshore, shallow-water and deepwater terrains to local and international investors. This announcement was made on 6 October 2026 at the NUPRC’s fifth anniversary celebration in Abuja, following approval by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his capacity as the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources.
According to the NUPRC Chief Executive, Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, the licensing round will target improving oil production numbers, including restoring over 788,000 barrels per day of shut-in production and taking offshore projects worth up to US$50 billion to final investment decision. The licensing round will be conducted within the framework of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 (PIA), which provides for competitive bidding in the award of petroleum licences, and the Petroleum Licensing Round Regulations 2022 as amended by the Petroleum Licensing Round (Amendment) Regulations 2026. NUPRC also revealed that the bidding process will incorporate enhanced transparency measures, including mandatory disclosure of beneficial ownership, publication of the evaluation methodology and disclosure of bid results. These measures follow recommendations by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) to improve ownership transparency, evaluation disclosures and public access to licensing information.
The announcement of the 2026 Licensing Round comes in the wake of announced enforcement and reiteration of the NUPRC’s Drill-or-Drop Policy. The Drill-or-Drop Policy is rooted in the provisions of the PIA on the duration of petroleum prospecting licences, work commitments and relinquishment, as well as the default and revocation provisions. Together, these provisions require licence holders to work their acreage within the licence term or risk losing same to the Federal Government.
On 14 September 2026, the NUPRC issued a circular to holders of petroleum prospecting licences from the 2020 Marginal Field Bid Round, the 2022/2023 Mini Bid Round and the 2024 Licensing Round, giving notice of its intention to actively enforce the Drill-or-Drop provisions of the PIA against non-performing oil and gas acreages. The circular encouraged licensees experiencing any challenges to notify NUPRC by 31 October 2026 of their compliance status, their specific challenges, their proposed mitigation measures and revised implementation timelines. It expressly states that it is a general advisory and not a notice of default, and that engagement with NUPRC does not suspend the licence term or excuse lack of performance.
This enforcement drive is further underscored by recent reports that the NUPRC had previously recovered more than 50 fallow oil fields from licence holders. According to the NUPRC, the recovered fields have been included in licensing rounds to attract investors with the capacity and commitment to develop the assets. These developments reinforce the NUPRC’s position that licensed acreage must be actively developed in accordance with committed work programmes and that failure to meet such commitments may result in the recovery and reallocation of assets.
