Nigeria Offers 40 More Oil Blocks as Regulator Targets Dormant Acreage
- October 7, 2026
Nigeria is putting another 40 oil and gas blocks on the market, extending a push to find investors willing to develop acreage that has historically remained idle for years despite successive licensing exercises.
Nigeria has opened its 2026 oil and gas licensing round with 40 blocks on offer, as regulators seek to tackle a longstanding problem of companies acquiring petroleum acreage without bringing it into production.
The latest offering comes just months after the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission awarded 37 blocks to 31 companies under its 2025 licensing round.
That round originally offered 50 blocks, but 13 attracted no bids. The new 2026 exercise will make another 40 blocks across land, shallow-water and deepwater areas available to Nigerian and international investors.
The volume of acreage coming to market highlights both Nigeria’s largely undeveloped petroleum potential and the government’s challenge in converting licence awards into actual drilling and production.
NUPRC chief executive Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan has acknowledged that Nigeria has historically struggled with operators holding licences for long periods without developing the assets.
“In the past we had operators who had 20-year licenses and sat on these blocks and did absolutely nothing,” Eyesan said in March.
“Now, we have moved from that era to drill or drop. So, now we have more assets in the basket which has given us the impetus to go for – if possible – annual bid rounds.”
Under Section 94 of Nigeria’s Petroleum Industry Act, companies can be required to develop their acreage or relinquish it, a policy the regulator describes as “drill or drop”. The measure is intended to prevent companies from warehousing potentially productive oil and gas assets.
The policy is becoming increasingly important as Nigeria tries to increase production from both existing fields and undeveloped acreage.
At the launch of the latest licensing round, Eyesan said the 40 blocks would be awarded to investors with the financial and technical ability to move them towards development.
“The round offers 40 blocks across land, shallow water and deep water terrains. They are open to investors with the technical competence, the financial capacity and, above all, the commitment to develop Nigeria’s petroleum resources,” she said.
The government is simultaneously trying to recover production from assets that are already capable of producing oil.
NUPRC estimates that more than 788,000 barrels per day of production is currently shut in across 63 operators. It is also seeking final investment decisions on offshore projects valued at between $30 billion and $50 billion.
Nigeria has increasingly emphasised development commitments when awarding acreage rather than simply collecting signature bonuses.
During the 2025 licensing round, the regulator warned successful bidders that securing a block did not amount to an asset that could simply be held indefinitely, saying companies would be expected to meet agreed investment and drilling milestones.
The latest round will also require bidders to disclose their beneficial owners, while the regulator has pledged to publish its evaluation methodology and provide greater disclosure of the results.
“Competition for upstream capital is fierce. Investors go where rules are clear, processes are predictable, and data can be trusted,” Eyesan said.
The push comes as Africa’s biggest oil producer seeks to attract fresh upstream investment and raise production after years in which insecurity, ageing infrastructure, underinvestment and delays in developing discovered resources constrained output.
