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Nigeria Offers 40 Oil Blocks to Foreign Investors as NUPRC Opens Bid
The Federal Government will open its bidding portal for 40 oil and gas blocks on November 20, 2026, as part of a fresh push to attract global capital into the country’s upstream sector.
Nigeria is presenting itself as a more secure and competitive destination for investment at a time of rising global energy tension and fierce competition for capital, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission said.
The Commission Chief Executive, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, made the pitch during a roundtable on ‘Energy Sovereignty in an Interconnected World’ at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference on Monday.
According to a statement by the NUPRC Head of Media and Corporate Communications, Eniola Akinkuotu, Eyesan said Nigeria now offers a stable climate for investors and urged them to take advantage of the 2026 licensing round.
She said the improved investment environment is anchored on an attractive fiscal framework, enhanced security, cost management and new incentives that have made the sector more competitive.
The 2026 round is the latest effort by the government to boost exploration activities and increase crude oil and gas production through fresh investment.
Nigeria’s oil industry has struggled to attract adequate funding in recent years due to regulatory uncertainty, insecurity, oil theft, vandalism, high operating costs and approval delays.
Eyesan said the Petroleum Industry Act of 2021 and recent executive orders by President Bola Tinubu have addressed many of those bottlenecks and improved the regulatory climate.
She noted that the commission has conducted at least four successful licensing rounds between 2021 and 2026, a sharp improvement from the pre-PIA era.
With about 215 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves but daily production below seven billion cubic feet, Nigeria is also pitching its vast gas potential, including major projects like the Nigeria-Morocco Atlantic Gas Pipeline and the Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline to supply domestic, regional and European markets.
