The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Fee (NUPRC) says the Federal Authorities has lowered the signature bonus for the 2025 petroleum licensing spherical to between $3 million and $7 million.
A signature bonus is a one-off cost made by oil corporations upon signing an settlement for the award of an exploration or manufacturing licence or lease.
The Fee disclosed this in an announcement on Monday, warning that any bidder who fails to suggest a signature bonus throughout the accredited vary will likely be disqualified.
In keeping with the NUPRC, all bidders will be required to submit a bid inside “a variety of $3 million and $7 million as accredited by the minister of petroleum for the discount of entry boundaries”.
What the Fee is saying
The fee stated bids will likely be assessed utilizing a score-based system that considers a number of standards.
The parameters, NUPRC stated, embody signature bonus (offered it’s throughout the prescribed restrict), proposed work programme, and the unit value per barrel in relation to the work programme.
The fee stated different analysis elements embody professionalism, human and technical capability, proportion of bank assure made accessible, steadiness sheet, turnover, inexperienced story and decarbonisation programme, and company governance construction.
Backstory
On December 1, NUPRC formally launched the 2025 Licensing Spherical, introducing a digital bid portal because the nation strikes to deepen funding and strengthen actions within the upstream sector.
With the approval of President Bola Tinubu, NUPRC has positioned 50 oil and gasoline blocks on supply throughout a number of terrains, together with onshore, shallow water, frontier basins, and deepwater.
The Fee Chief Govt, Gbenga Komolafe stated, “The 2025 Licensing Spherical is projected to draw about $10 billion in investments, add as much as two billion barrels to nationwide oil reserves over the following decade, and ship an estimated 400,000 barrels per day from absolutely developed property.
“On the Fee, we acknowledge that transparency is essential to investor confidence. To make sure that the bidding course of is credible and seamless, the Fee has rolled out tips which are actually accessible on its web site,” he stated
The NUPRC has adopted a two-stage process consisting of a qualification stage and a bidding stage.
What you need to know
In December 2024, the Federal Authorities efficiently concluded its first licensing spherical beneath the PIA 2021, with a number of indigenous oil and gasoline corporations awarded Petroleum Prospecting Licences (PPLs), granting them rights to discover and produce hydrocarbons from onshore and offshore blocks.
Licensing rounds have lengthy been a cornerstone of Nigeria’s oil and gasoline funding technique. Main rounds have been held in 2000, 2005, and 2007, whereas extra focused workout routines for marginal fields and deepwater blocks came about in subsequent years. Nevertheless, lots of the awarded blocks have confronted challenges, together with technical bottlenecks, funding gaps, and regulatory delays.
