Nigerian Govt offers 17 new oil blocks for bidding

The Nigerian Federal Government has announced 17 additional deep offshore oil blocks for the 2024 Licensing Round for oil fields in the country.

The Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Gbenga Komolafe, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.

Komolafe said the update will allow interested investors to take advantage of the expanded opportunities.

"In pursuit of the Commission's commitment to derive value from the country's abundant oil and gas reserves and increase production, the commission has been working assiduously with multi-client companies to undertake more exploratory activities to acquire more data to foster and encourage further investment in the Nigerian upstream sector.

"As a result of additional data acquired in respect of deep offshore blocks, the commission has added 17 deep offshore blocks to the 2024 Licensing Round.

"Further details on the blocks can be found on the bid portal."

Recall that some deep offshore blocks were offered for the 2024 Licencing Round.

On May 8, 2024, the government invited investors to bid for 12 oil blocks and seven deep offshore assets in the 2024 marginal fields bid round.

Similarly, in June 2024, it was reported that the Federal Government had increased the number of oil blocks on offer in the 2024 marginal bid round.