The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission has warned 31 companies that won 37 oil and gas blocks in the 2025 Licensing Round to pay their required signature bonuses within the stipulated period or risk losing their provisional awards.
The warning came one month after the NUPRC hosted the commercial bid conference in Abuja, where the successful companies emerged as winners. The commission said compliance with signature bonus payments had commenced following the issuance of provisional awards.
The NUPRC said companies that fail to pay within the prescribed period under the Petroleum Industry Act will forfeit their bid guarantees and lose their provisional awards to the next-ranked reserve bidders.
The 37 blocks cover the Niger Delta onshore, shallow water and deep offshore areas, as well as frontier basins including the Benin, Anambra, Chad, Benue Trough and other prospective areas. A total of 143 companies participated in the licensing round, submitting about 200 bids.
Under the applicable guidelines, successful bidders are required to pay signature bonuses ranging from $3m to $7m per block, alongside first-year rents, required guarantees and other post-award conditions. Thirteen of the 50 blocks initially offered attracted no bids.
The commission said the winners had 90 days from the issuance of their provisional awards to complete the required payments. With provisional award letters issued on July 21, 2026, 30 days had elapsed, leaving the companies with 60 days to comply.
The NUPRC therefore expects the affected companies to complete their statutory payments by October 19, 2026. Failure to do so will lead to forfeiture of their bid guarantees, revocation of the provisional awards and their reassignment to the designated reserve bidders.
