Energy
NCDMB Parleys Chevron, Recommits To Fast-Track Approvals of Oil Industry Projects
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has restated its commitment to accelerated approvals of requests and documents submitted to it by operating oil and gas companies.
The goal, according a statement from the NCDMB was to ensure speedy development of oil and gas projects and contribute to increased oil production and improved national economy.
Biztellers reports that Executive Secretary NCDMB, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe gave the assurance on Friday at the Nigerian Content Tower, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State when he received senior officials from Chevron Nigeria Limited led by the Deputy Managing Director, Cosmas Iwueze.
The ES conveyed the Board’s willingness to improve on the timelines set by the Service Level Agreement (SLA) instituted by the Board, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPC Ltd) and international oil companies for shortening the contracting cycle for oil and gas projects.
He reiterated his proposal for the setting up of technical working groups (TWGs) between the representatives of the NCDMB and respective international oil firms.
The working groups could meet monthly or quarterly to evaluate the companies’ expectations from the NCDMB on their projects. The intent, he explained is “to resolve contentious issues, close all the gaps and come to an agreement before the official correspondences are received. That will ensure quick turn-around and approvals will be dealt with quickly and that will help to cut downtime.”
Emphasising the need for all oil and gas companies to comply with the provisions of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act, the ES promised that the Board will accede to cogent urgent requests from companies to avoid delays that could cause costs overruns, impact negatively on oil and gas operations and the economy at large.
He encouraged the companies to see the NCDMB as partners in progress, adding: “we want to create the enabling environment that will minimize conflicts with international oil companies (IOCs) and attract investments into the sector.
“We want to create employment opportunities for our youths and help achieve the economic objectives of President Bola Tinubu. We want to make international oil companies comfortable and reverse the exit of foreign investors because they create jobs, and we need all hands on the deck.”
Ogbe revealed that he had long and successful career with Chevron Nigeria and remarked that the hallmark of the company was teamwork.
He noted that the NCDMB operates with the same core value, hence the Board is determined to support oil companies to accomplish their operational goals. “We have to make sure that you succeed otherwise we will not be successful,” he added.
The ES confirmed that NCDMB under his watch would not emphasise the use of sanctions, rather would seek to dialogue with companies to achieve win-win situations.
“We will be flexible regarding your requests, but we all need to have open minds and look at the critical paths that will ensure that we make progress and produce effectively,” he said.
Contributing, the Director, Planning Research and Statistics, NCDMB, Isaac Yalah, commended Chevron Nigeria for supporting the Board’s development of the Nigerian Content Research Centre of Excellence at the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA), in Ondo State.
He affirmed that the Board will continue to collaborate with Chevron on other projects and would address any issues relating to requests for expatriate quota approvals.
Responding, Iwunze commended the ES for adopting the mantra of collaboration and pushing to increase crude oil production in Nigeria.
He highlighted the importance producing crude oil at competitive costs, noting that the primary aspiration of oil companies and the Federal Government is to ramp up Nigeria’s crude oil production volumes and shore up the revenue accruing to the national coffers.
The Deputy Managing Director emphasised the need to incentivise investments in the oil and gas sector. He explained that international oil and gas companies in Nigeria compete for capital with their sister operations in other oil producing nations.
He said, “The capital we need for big oil and gas investments is domiciled with global investors. We need to always present Nigeria as an investor friendly destination where people can come and do business.”
He also confirmed that the company was working on some major projects, relating to deepwater and Escravos gas-to liquids (EGTL) and he looked forward to receiving the Board’s support and collaboration when the projects come for consideration and approvals.
The 31 companies that emerged winners of 37 oil and gas blocks in the 2025 Licensing Round must pay their signature bonuses within the stipulated period or risk losing their provisional awards.
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) handed down the warning on Sunday, one month after it hosted the commercial bid conference in Abuja, where the successful companies emerged as winners of the available blocks.
The NUPRC said the process of compliance with the payment of signature bonuses had commenced following the issuance of provisional awards to the successful bidders.
“Exactly a month ago, the NUPRC hosted the 2025 commercial bid conference in Abuja where 31 companies emerged winners of 37 oil and gas blocks. Having issued the winners with the provisional awards, compliance with the payment of signature bonuses has already begun.
“Winners who fail to pay signature bonuses within the stipulated time frame in line with the Petroleum Industry Act will forfeit their bid guarantee and lose their provisional awards to the reserve bidders,” the NUPRC stated.
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The 37 blocks offered in the licensing round comprise Petroleum Prospecting Licences covering the Niger Delta onshore, shallow water and deep offshore areas, as well as frontier basins.
Among the blocks are PPL 2A29 to PPL 2A62 in the Niger Delta, PPL 2010 in the deep offshore, PPL 308 in the Benin Basin, PPL 900 to PPL 903 in the Anambra Basin, PPL 700 in the Chad Basin and PPL 800 and PPL 801 in the Benue Trough.
The commission also published the names of the 31 successful companies and the ranked reserve bidders for each of the 37 blocks.
A total of 143 companies participated in the licensing round, submitting about 200 bids for the 37 blocks. However, 13 of the 50 blocks initially put up for bidding attracted no bids.
Under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) and the applicable licensing guidelines, successful bidders are required to pay signature bonuses ranging from $3m to $7m per block.
They are also expected to provide the required guarantees, pay first-year rents and satisfy other post-award conditions within the prescribed period. Failure to meet the requirements will result in the automatic transfer of the affected award to the next-ranked reserve bidder, according to the NUPRC.
The commission’s Chief Executive Officer, Mrs Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, had earlier urged the successful bidders to make the required payments without delay and commence development of the awarded assets.
The NUPRC urged interested members of the public and stakeholders to visit the 2025 Licensing Round portal for further information on the awards and compliance requirements.
Under the PIA 2021 guidelines, winning bidders are required to pay their signature bonuses within a strict 90-day window. Since provisional award letters were issued immediately following the commercial bid conference on July 21, 2026, it means 30 days have already elapsed, and companies have 60 days left to remit the funds.
This shows that the regulator expects the signature bonuses to be paid on or before October 19, 2026.
If a winning company fails to complete the payment of its statutory signature bonus along with first-year rent within this 90-day window, the company automatically forfeits its bid guarantee. The provisional award will be revoked and immediately reassigned to the designated reserve bidder for the asset.
Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL), operator of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and CNL Joint Venture, has stressed the importance of strengthening the regulatory framework in the Nigerian oil and gas industry to enhance growth opportunities.
Chairman and Managing Director of Chevron companies in Nigeria and the Mid Africa Region, Jim Swartz, made this known at the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) Energy and Labour Summit (PEALS) in Abuja on Wednesday August 19, 2026.
Represented by Segun Kuteyi, Director of Operations and Chief Operating Officer, Chevron Nigeria and Mid Africa Region, Jim noted that Nigeria remains one of the world’s most resource-rich energy nations, with substantial oil reserves, abundant natural gas, a strategic location, and a skilled workforce, adding that these strengths position the country for sustained growth and competitiveness in a rapidly evolving global energy landscape.
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He remarked that resources alone are not enough to guarantee success and emphasized that what makes the difference is the environment in which investments, businesses, and people operate. “A predictable, transparent, and efficient regulatory framework builds confidence; and confidence attracts investment, drives innovation, creates jobs, and supports economic growth,’ he stated.
Jim emphasized that regulatory certainty could be a catalyst for investor commitments and noted that in Chevron, regulatory reforms in the industry continue to enable its growth opportunities post-Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, with key drivers being exploration and new discoveries, infill drilling and brownfield optimisation as well as monetisation and integrated developments
According to him, some of the company’s key achievements include the renewal and conversion of its Joint Venture and Deepwater leases; continued investment in exploration, asset and gas development, and monetisation; the recent Chevron’s acquisition of Deepwater block, Petroleum Prospecting License (PPL 2010); equity investments in recent announcements by Shell on Bonga Southwest/Aparo (BSWAP), and ExxonMobil on Owowo/Usan and the sustained social investments and community partnerships for over six decades.
While emphasizing the importance of safety, collaboration and human dimension in the Nigerian oil and gas industry, he stated that the industry challenges could be addressed through strengthening regulatory certainty, advancing transparency and accountability, driving investment across the value chain and promote collaboration across the industry, supporting innovation and digital transformation and building workforce capability and future-ready skills.
“At Chevron, we believe people are our greatest asset. No regulatory framework can fully succeed without a capable, motivated, and protected workforce. That is why forums such as PEALS are important: they bring government, labour, and industry together to align on shared goals and deepen mutual understanding,” he remarked.
Nigeria has mined over 4.6 billion barrels of crude oil from deep offshore assets worth over 5,000 tankers.
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), revealed this on Tuesday Live on NTA hosted by Cyril Stober.
The Commission Chief Executive, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, represented by the Executive Commissioner, Development and Production of the NUPRC, Engineer Enorense Amadasu, asserted that the achievement was made possible by the Deep Offshore Oil and Gas Project Incentives (Tax Remission) Executive Order (EO) 2026 recently signed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
She added that the EO has the potential not only to unlock $50bn in investments but can also create an additional one million barrels per day of crude oil and condensate from deep offshore fields.
Eyesan explained that the reform establishes a transparent, rules-based investment framework capable of supporting the next generation of deep offshore developments.
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She noted that presently, Nigeria produces about 1.7mbpd of crude oil and condensate but deep offshore accounts for just about 24 percent of total oil production and 19 percent of gas.
Eyesan pointed out that with Field Development Plans (FDPs) running into billions of dollars already approved by the NUPRC, the executive order will encourage IOCs to make quicker Final Investment Decisions (FIDs).
“So, where will these volumes be coming from? Nine of these projects have approved FDPs so the next step expected is the FID in the near to midterm.
The $10bn Bonga South will come in 2027 and within the next four to five years, we are expecting almost an additional one million barrels additional per day,” she stated.
According to Eyesan, the executive order also presents an opportunity for other sectors like the marine economy which will need to expand Nigeria’s logistics/marine base so the country can sustain the volume of deep offshore projects being expected.
“It aims to make Nigeria the regional hub for deep offshore projects,” Eyesan said.
Other benefits of the executive order as explained by CCE include: growth in reserves, technological/skills transfer and new jobs.
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