# Nigeria opens 2026 licensing round with 40 oil and gas blocks

> Nigeria’s upstream regulator launched a 2026 licensing round on October 6, offering 40 blocks across land, shallow-water and deepwater areas.

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- Publisher: Newsverum
- Section: Energy
- Country: Nigeria
- Published: 2026-10-10T14:10:20+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-12T06:23:32+03:00
- Event / data period: 2026-10-06
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The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) announced on October 6 that its 2026 licensing round had opened. Commission chief Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan said applicants would need technical competence, financial capacity and a commitment to develop the resources.

NUPRC said the guidelines would fully describe evaluation methods, provide fuller publication of results and require disclosure of each bidder’s beneficial owners. Eyesan also cited more than 788,000 barrels per day of shut-in production identified across 63 operators and offshore projects valued at an estimated $30 billion to $50 billion seeking final investment decisions; these are stated opportunities, not new output.

## Data

### Licensing round and production opportunities

Licensing and production context reported by NUPRC on October 6, 2026.

Methodology: Values are transcribed from the NUPRC announcement. Forty is the number of blocks offered; shut-in production is the regulator’s stated lower bound.

| label | value | unit | period | basis | value_qualifier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blocks offered | 40 | count | 2026-10-06 | observed |  |
| Shut-in oil production | 0.788 | million barrels per day | 2026-10-06 | estimate | lower-bound |

Sources: <https://www.nuprc.gov.ng/media/news/b0ca9b9af126717073c5c655> · Download data: [JSON](https://newsverum.com/api/v1/articles/nigeria-2026-licensing-round-offers-40-oil-and-gas-blocks/data/release-details?lang=en&format=json) · [CSV](https://newsverum.com/api/v1/articles/nigeria-2026-licensing-round-offers-40-oil-and-gas-blocks/data/release-details?lang=en&format=csv)

## Sources

- [Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission](<https://www.nuprc.gov.ng/media/news/b0ca9b9af126717073c5c655>) (Source checked: 2026-10-10; Published: 2026-10-06)

## Correction history

- 2026-10-12T06:23:32+03:00: Wording in this article's language editions was corrected to retain the article's full information and scope. Wording in the translations of data labels or explanations was corrected.

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