Eyesan woos investors at ADIPEC, says licensing portal opens Nov. 20
The Commission Chief Executive (CCE) of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Mrs Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, has urged investors to take advantage of Nigeria’s improving investment climate and participate in the 2026 Oil and Gas Licensing Round.
Eyesan disclosed that the bidding portal for the licensing round, featuring 40 oil and gas blocks, would officially open on Nov. 20, 2026.
She made this known during a roundtable discussion titled, ‘Energy Sovereignty in an Interconnected World: Aligning National Priorities, Markets and Global Security’, at the 2026 Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
She said Nigeria remained an attractive investment destination despite prevailing global energy uncertainties, adding that the government had introduced competitive fiscal incentives and improved security measures to encourage investments.
“We are expecting investors to turn to Nigeria. We are going in for another licensing round and will be launching our bid portal on November 20.
“We expect to see interested investors because the environment is a lot more competitive. We have set a very attractive fiscal framework for investors, and the entire environment is a lot more secure,” she said.
The NUPRC boss attributed the improvement in Nigeria’s investment climate to the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 and executive orders signed by President Bola Tinubu.
She said the commission had conducted at least four successful licensing rounds between 2021 and 2026, attracting additional investments into the country.
According to her, this represents a departure from the pre-PIA era when licensing rounds were less frequent.
Eyesan said Nigeria also had enormous gas investment opportunities, with estimated reserves of 215 trillion cubic feet (TCF), while daily production remained below seven billion cubic feet (bcf).
She noted that ongoing and planned gas infrastructure projects would help unlock the country’s vast resources and expand supply to domestic and international markets.
“The stars are already aligned. For gas infrastructure, we have just completed very major infrastructure projects that will unlock gas supply in the country and the sub-region,” she said.
Eyesan also identified the proposed Nigeria-Morocco Atlantic Gas Pipeline and Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline as major projects that could facilitate gas exports to Europe and meet regional energy demand.
She said Nigeria was positioning itself to serve not only its domestic market but also the wider African and international energy markets.
The CCE noted that competition for investments had intensified as more countries discovered petroleum resources, making it necessary for Nigeria to address investors’ concerns around project execution, costs, delays and regulatory uncertainties.
She said the commission had introduced measures to minimise these risks and create a more predictable business environment.
“We understand that investors will prize execution risk, cost, delays and also uncertainty. What we have done in Nigeria is to ensure that we guard against these risks and attract the investment required to enable us unlock the huge resources we sit on,” Eyesan said.
