Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) Chief Executive. Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan has disclosed that Nigeria’s 2026 Licensing Round Bid Portal will open on November 20, 2026, urging investors to embrace Nigeria’s stable investment climate amid global energy tensions.
Eyesan therefore urged investors to look towards Nigeria by taking advantage of the 2026 Licensing Round which has 40 oil and gas blocks on offer. She also disclosed that the licensing round portal will officially open on November 20, 2026.
The NUPRC boss said this during a roundtable discussion titled, ‘Energy Sovereignty in an Interconnected World: Aligning National Priorities, Markets and Global Security’at the 2026 ADIPEC Exhibition and Conference in Abu Dhabi on Monday, November 2, 2026.
She said, “We are expecting investors to turn to Nigeria. We are going in for another licensing round and we will be launching our bid portal on November 20. We expect to see interested investors because the environment is a lot more competitive.
“We have set a very attractive fiscal framework for investors. The entire environment is a lot more secure. We have been able to manage costs with a lot of incentives for investors and we expect to see investors take up the offer when we open the portal.”
The NUPRC boss noted that since the passing of the Petroleum Industry Act in 2021 as well as the executive orders signed by President Bola Tinubu, Nigeria has seen an improvement in its investment climate.
Eyesan stated that between 2021 and 2026, the NUPRC had held at least four successful licensing rounds which had brought in more investments into the country.
This is a departure from the pre-PIA era where licensing rounds were not frequent.
The CCE said that Nigeria possesses huge energy potential as it sits on 215TCF of gas but daily production is barely 7bcf.
This presents an opportunity to investors especially as key gas infrastructure as in the pipeline, she said.
“The stars are already aligned. For gas infrastructure we just completed very major infrastructure projects that will unlock gas supply in the country and the sub-region.
“We talk about two major projects on the drawing board to move gas through the Nigeria-Morocco Atlantic Gas Pipeline and Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline. Again, this gas will go somewhere in Europe and will also meet regional demands. So, Nigeria is positioned to meet not just domestic supply,” the CCE stated.
Eyesan maintained that with many countries discovering petroleum resources, the race for investments has become more competitive.
She said Nigeria was already ahead of the game as it had made certain modifications in order to attract the right capital.
“We understand that investors will prize execution risk, cost, delays and also uncertainty and so what we have done in Nigeria is to ensure that we guard against these risks and then attract the investment required to enable us unlock the huge resources we sit on,” the NUPRC boss said.
