By 
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has revealed that Nigeria has 220 open oil blocks scattered across its onshore and offshore basins.
This is occurring despite the nation’s rising debt and the crude shortages affecting local refineries.
The NUPRC data indicates that the deep offshore terrain holds the largest number of unlicensed blocks, with 59, underscoring the significant, yet largely undeveloped, energy resources in this technically challenging and capital intensive region.
Other basins with a notable number of open blocks include the Benue Trough (41), the Chad Basin (40), the Sokoto Basin (28), and the Bida Basin (16).
Even in more established areas like the offshore Niger Delta and the onshore Niger Delta, eight and seven open blocks remain, respectively, along with 13 in the Anambra Basin and eight in the Benin Basin.
The NUPRC also reported that 24 blocks were recently awarded from the 2022/2023 deepwater mini-bid round and the 2024 licensing round.
This highlights the substantial hydrocarbon potential of Nigeria’s deepwater terrain, as evidenced by successful commercial discoveries in fields such as NNPC exploration and production limited’s Abo field, Chevron Nigeria limited’s Agbami Field, and Shell Nigeria exploration and production company’s Bonga field.
The report said, “A testament to the richness of its resources is commercial discoveries and prolific historical productions of the NNPC Exploration and Production Limited’s Abo field, Chevron Nigeria Limited’s Agbami Field, Yinka Folawiyo’s Aje field, TotalEnergies Upstream Nigeria Limited’s Akpo and Egina fields, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company’s Bonga field, and ESSO Exploration and Production Usan and Erha fields, among others.”
While saying Nigeria’s deep water terrain has become the new bride of international oil companies in the wave of current portfolio rationalisation and divestment programmes, it was stated that the deep offshore terrain is largely underexplored due to its complexity.
it stated, “Characteristically, the deep offshore terrain presents complexity in accessibility, technology, investment, and facility deployment, which potentially explains its status as largely underexplored and underdeveloped.
“Empirical data indicates that there are about 59 open block opportunities in deep offshore Nigeria, which accounts for about 27 per cent of total open blocks in Nigeria and 80 per cent of open blocks in the prolific Niger Delta and its offshore terrains.”
As of January 1, 2025, the deepwater terrain contributed approximately 19% of Nigeria’s oil reserves and 12% of its gas reserves.
Industry analysts have pointed out the disparity between Nigeria’s potential and its actual performance.
The existence of these unlicensed and undeveloped blocks impacts the nation’s revenue, leading to increased borrowing.
The government’s debt stock reached over N149tn in Q1 2025, and the country continues to rely heavily on imports for refined petroleum products, while its local refineries face a chronic lack of crude oil.
Comments