By ebosele@hotmail.com
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has urged international investors to take advantage of Nigeria’s improving investment climate and participate in the 2026 licensing round, which offers 40 oil and gas blocks.
The Commission Chief Executive, Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, disclosed that the bid portal for the licensing round would officially open on November 20, 2026, urging prospective investors to explore the opportunities available in Nigeria’s upstream petroleum sector.
Eyesan made the call on Monday during a roundtable discussion titled, ‘Energy Sovereignty in an Interconnected World: Aligning National Priorities, Markets and Global Security’, at the 2026 Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
She said Nigeria was offering investors a more competitive environment, supported by an attractive fiscal framework, improved security and incentives designed to reduce operating costs.
“We are expecting investors to turn to Nigeria. We are going in for another licensing round and we will be launching our bid portal on November 20. We expect to see interested investors because the environment is a lot more competitive.
“We have set a very attractive fiscal framework for investors. The entire environment is a lot more secure. We have been able to manage costs with a lot of incentives for investors and we expect to see investors take up the offer when we open the portal,” she said.
The NUPRC chief executive attributed the improvement in Nigeria’s investment climate to the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) in 2021 and executive orders signed by President Bola Tinubu.
According to her, the Commission conducted at least four successful licensing rounds between 2021 and 2026, attracting additional investments into the country’s oil and gas industry.
She described the development as a departure from the pre-PIA era, when licensing rounds were less frequent.
Eyesan also highlighted Nigeria’s vast gas resources, noting that the country has an estimated 215 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas reserves, while daily production currently stands at about seven billion cubic feet (7bcf).
She said the gap between the country’s enormous gas reserves and current production presents significant investment opportunities, particularly with major gas infrastructure projects expected to improve supply.
“The stars are already aligned. For gas infrastructure, we just completed very major infrastructure projects that will unlock gas supply in the country and the sub-region.
“We talk about two major projects on the drawing board to move gas through the Nigeria-Morocco Atlantic Gas Pipeline and Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline. Again, this gas will go somewhere in Europe and will also meet regional demands. So, Nigeria is positioned to meet not just domestic supply,” she stated.
The NUPRC boss, however, acknowledged that competition for global oil and gas investments had intensified as more countries seek to attract capital into their petroleum industries.
She said Nigeria had introduced measures to address concerns around project execution risks, operational costs, delays and regulatory uncertainties, which investors consider when making investment decisions.
“We understand that investors will prize execution risk, cost, delays and also uncertainty, and so what we have done in Nigeria is to ensure that we guard against these risks and then attract the investment required to enable us unlock the huge resources we sit on,” Eyesan said.
The 2026 ADIPEC Exhibition and Conference is holding from November 2 to 5 in Abu Dhabi, bringing together governments, energy companies, investors and industry leaders to discuss developments and investment opportunities in the global energy sector.
