By Udeme Akpan, Energy Editor
The Federal Government has limited bidders of its 50 oil blocks located in the onshore, shallow water, and deep offshore areas to a maximum of two blocks.
This limit and other guidelines would be discussed during the Bid Conference and Roadshow in January 2026 to enable local and foreign investors to understand more and participate.
In its guidelines sighted by Vanguard, the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, stated: “Notwithstanding paragraph 17.5 (b) or any other provision of the Guidelines, each Applicant, being an incorporated company, whether acting individually or as a member of any Consortium, shall be permitted to submit Bids in respect of not more than two (2) Blocks offered under the Licensing Round.
“Only one (1) Bid per Block may be submitted by any Applicant or Consortium and duplicate or competing submissions in respect of the same Block shall be rejected. (c) Where an Applicant submits, participates in, or is otherwise connected to Bids in respect of more than two (2) Blocks, all such additional Bids beyond the first two (2), in chronological order of submission, shall be deemed invalid and disqualified ab initio, without prejudice to any further regulatory sanctions the Commission may impose.
“This amendment introduces a restriction that limits each incorporated Applicant entity, whether bidding individually or through participation in one or more Consortia, to a maximum of two (2) Blocks under the 2025 Licensing Round.”
It also stated: “The purpose of the amendment is to promote competitive fairness and broader participation by preventing market dominance or “block warehousing” by a small number of entities, thereby creating opportunities for a larger pool of technically and financially qualified investors.
“Enhance bid quality and delivery certainty by ensuring that Applicants focus financial, technical, and managerial resources on a manageable number of assets capable of timely exploration and development, rather than overextending capacity.
“Safeguard the integrity of the bidding process by closing potential loopholes through which entities could indirectly bid for multiple blocks using subsidiaries, affiliates, SPVs, nominee entities, or overlapping consortium structures.
“Align with global industry best practices, where regulators routinely impose bidder concentration limits during licensing rounds to preserve competition, prevent speculative accumulation of acreage, and encourage genuine workprogramme delivery.”
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