The Nigerian government has announced plans to focus on undeveloped oil and gas blocks for its 2025 licensing auction bids.
The CEO of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Gbenga Komolafe, disclosed this during a bid conference in Abuja on Wednesday.
Komolafe described the licensing bid as a significant step demonstrating the government’s readiness to do business.
“The licensing round is more than a commercial exercise, it is a bold declaration that Nigeria is ready for business,” the oil regulator boss said.
Since the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) in August 2021, a law that reformed the country’s oil and gas sector, the regulator has conducted three separate auctions.
Komolafe added that the next bid would take place in February 2024, just a few months away.
Nigeria, which has struggled to meet its OPEC crude oil production quota due to challenges such as oil theft, is looking to boost production through investment incentives.
President Bola Tinubu, since assuming office in May 2023, has signed three executive orders aimed at attracting investments to the oil and gas sector.
The policy appears to be yielding results, as Shell Plc recently announced new investment in Bonga North, a deep-water project off Nigeria’s coast.
According to Shell, Bonga North has an estimated recoverable resource of more than 300 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe).
The project is expected to reach a peak production of 110,000 barrels of oil per day (boepd), with first oil anticipated by the end of the decade.
Earlier this year, the Oil Minister, Heineken Lokpobiri, stated that Nigeria aims to attract $10 billion in investment in its offshore fields.
“These were companies that left Nigeria because they believe that there were inconsistent policies, the atmosphere wasn’t favorable. These companies are all coming back,” Lokpobiri said.
The minister also mentioned commitments from major oil companies such as ExxonMobil and TotalEnergies, among others.
