The Federal Government has further reduced the signature bonuses required for bidders in the 2025 Oil Licensing Round, lowering the payment range to between $3 million and $7 million in a bid to make entry into Nigeria’s upstream sector more affordable.
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) announced the revised rates on its website, noting that all prospective bidders must now submit offers within the new range approved by the Minister of Petroleum Resources.
“Interested in one of the oil blocks listed for the 2025 Licensing Round? The Nigerian government has graciously reduced the signature bonus to between $3m and $7m,” the commission stated. “All bidders shall be required to submit a bid within this range to reduce entry barriers.”
The move marks another significant departure from Nigeria’s historically steep signature bonuses. In 2024, the NUPRC slashed the fee from about $200 million to $10 million after comparing Nigeria’s fiscal terms with those of countries like Brazil. Under that structure, deepwater assets carried a $10 million bonus, while shallow-water and onshore blocks required $7 million. These have now dropped further to $7 million and $3 million, respectively.
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The commission added that all payments must be made strictly in U.S. dollars, emphasising that the designated account is dollar-denominated.
Successful bidders will be issued a Petroleum Prospecting Licence (PPL), which grants exclusive rights to drill exploration and appraisal wells, as well as non-exclusive rights to conduct additional exploration activities. Licence holders may also dispose of hydrocarbons recovered during production tests.
The PPL will run for an initial three-year period, extendable by another three years for onshore and shallow-water blocks, while deepwater and frontier assets carry a five-year term.
NUPRC said the licensing round will follow a two-stage process—qualification screening followed by the submission of technical and commercial bids. Applicants must sign a confidentiality agreement before gaining access to bid documents.
