The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has completed the pre-qualification stage of the 2025 Licensing Round and has notified successful pre-qualified applicants accordingly.
The commission, in its recent media release, noted that the completion of the pre-qualification stage of the 2025 Licensing Round has reached its stipulated closing date of March 16, 2026, in line with the 2025 Licensing Round Guideline.
With the pre-qualification stage now completed, the Commission noted that the permit for successful applicants to lease data in preparation for the technical and commercial bid submissions has commenced on March 17, 2026.
NUPRC has further disclosed that pre-qualified applicants are mandated to lease data only from the two data sources (as applicable) and upload evidence of payment as a prerequisite to the submission of bids.
On December 1, 2025, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) officially launched the 2025 licensing round, offering 50 oil and gas blocks across various terrains: 15 onshore, 19 shallow water, 15 frontier assets, and 1 deepwater block.
