By Abubakar Yunusa
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) says the federal government has reduced the signature bonus for the 2025 petroleum licensing round to between $3 million and $7 million.
A signature bonus is a single, lump-sum payment paid by oil companies to the government when they sign an agreement, as part of the award of an exploration or production licence or lease.
The commission,in a statement said any bidder that fails to submit a signature bonus within the required range will be disqualified.
“The Nigerian government has graciously reduced the signature bonus to between $3 million and $7 million,” the statement reads.
According to the NUPRC, all bidders will be required to submit a bid within “a range of $3 million and $7 million as approved by the minister of petroleum for the reduction of entry barriers”.
The commission said bids will be assessed using a score-based system that considers several criteria.
The parameters, NUPRC said, include signature bonus (provided it is within the prescribed limit), proposed work programme, and the unit cost per barrel in relation to the work programme.
The commission said other evaluation factors include professionalism, human and technical capacity, percentage of bank guarantee made available, balance sheet, turnover, green story and decarbonisation programme, and corporate governance structure.
On December 1, the NUPRC announced the official commencement of the 2025 petroleum licensing round, targeting about $10 billion in new investments.
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