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.