The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has thrown its weight behind the federal government's decision to withdraw royalty collection powers from the commission, describing the move as a step towards greater fiscal clarity and efficiency.

The upstream regulator also justified the relatively low signature bonuses set for the ongoing 2025 licensing round for 50 oil blocks, noting that lowering the financial bar to between $3 million and $7 million was done deliberately to prioritise technical competence, strong work programmes and real development capacity over speculative bidding.

NUPRC Chief Executive, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, in an interview published in the agency's in-house magazine, 'Upstream Gaze', explained that the reassignment of royalty collection to the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) aligned with the intent of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) to strengthen transparency, eliminate overlaps and enhance revenue assurance.

She noted that while the NRS now handles the collection and enforcement of royalties, the NUPRC retains its technical oversight role, including production measurement, volume verification and royalty computation. According to her, the delineation of responsibilities ensures institutional clarity and improves accountability across the system. She added that the commission has already established coordinated frameworks with the NRS covering data integrity, harmonised processes and clearly defined operational roles.

Eyesan stressed that the commission would continue to serve as the technical authority for metering and production validation, while verified data would be shared seamlessly with the revenue agency to prevent leakages.

President Bola Tinubu issued an Executive Order in February 2026, mandating that all revenues from the petroleum sector, including royalties, taxes and profit oil, be paid directly into the Federation Account, rather than being collected or retained by regulatory agencies or operators. At the core of the reform is the transfer of royalty collection to the NRS, which is now responsible for receiving and enforcing payments, while the NUPRC retains only technical responsibilities such as production measurement, verification and calculation of royalty liabilities.

"The recent shift of royalty collection to the Nigeria Revenue Service is a positive step for clearer fiscal administration. But under the PIA, NUPRC still plays critical technical roles, including measuring production, verifying volumes and calculating royalty liability.

"To keep everything seamless, we've set up a coordinated system with the NRS built around three areas: data integrity, aligned processes and clear responsibilities. First, on data integrity, the NUPRC remains the technical authority for metering and production verification. We're strengthening our reporting processes and sharing verified production data with the NRS to avoid gaps, errors or revenue leakages.

"Second, on process alignment, both agencies are considering harmonised templates, timelines and audit procedures, backed by clear Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) from production reporting through to royalty assessment and collection. This removes duplication and makes compliance easier for operators.

"Third, on institutional clarity, the roles are distinct: NUPRC handles technical regulation and validation, the NRS handles collection and enforcement. This separation improves transparency and accountability.

"For operators, the experience will be streamlined, not more complicated. The goal is simple: strengthen revenue assurance while keeping the regulatory environment clear and predictable. Overall, this collaboration enhances fiscal transparency, improves efficiency and supports the PIA's broader objective, ensuring Nigeria gets full value from its hydrocarbon resources while maintaining investor confidence," Eyesan explained.

On the lowering of signature bonuses for the 2025 licensing round, which range between $3 million and $7 million, the NUPRC chief said the decision was deliberate and reflects a shift away from revenue maximisation at the point of award to long-term value creation. She explained that the commission is prioritising technical competence, credible work programmes and the financial capacity of bidders over speculative bidding driven by high upfront payments.

"The current licensing round represents a decisive departure from past exercises. It is governed by transparent rules, with evaluation criteria published upfront and a process that is clearly structured, time-bound and digitally enhanced. Investors now compete with clear technical, financial and operational standards, not on discretion.

"Our focus is clear: value, not volume. We want credible investors who can turn acreage into discoveries and discoveries into real production. To support this, we've strengthened data access, tightened evaluation and embedded firm work programme obligations so awarded blocks are actively developed, not warehoused.

"We've also lowered unnecessary entry barriers. Signature bonuses for the 2025 round are deliberately moderate ($3-7 million) because we're prioritising technical competence, strong work programmes and real development capacity over speculative bidding," she pointed out.

Eyesan added that improved seismic and geological data provided to bidders would reduce exploration risks and accelerate decision-making, while firm work programme commitments have been embedded to ensure that awarded assets are actively developed.

Beyond licensing, the NUPRC outlined an ambitious reform agenda aimed at repositioning the regulator as a business-enabling institution, anchored on three key pillars—production optimisation, regulatory speed and sustainable operations.

Eyesan said the commission's immediate priority is to stabilise and grow Nigeria's crude oil output to 2 million barrels per day in the near term and 3 million barrels per day by 2030, alongside scaling gas production to 12 billion cubic feet per day. She noted that achieving these targets would require faster field development, enhanced oil recovery, improved reservoir management and tighter hydrocarbon accounting, as well as real-time production data to support planning and investor decision-making.

In a separate interview in the magazine, Special Adviser to Tinubu on Energy, Olu Verheijen, said Nigeria's upstream sector has witnessed a significant turnaround under the current administration, with crude oil production rising by over 400,000 barrels per day in less than three years. According to her, output has climbed from about 1.2 million barrels per day in 2023 to over 1.5 million barrels per day, driven by improved security, fiscal reforms and cost optimisation measures.

She added that Nigeria has re-emerged as Africa's leading destination for oil and gas investments, attracting more than $8 billion in upstream final investment decisions (FIDs) in 2024 alone, despite a broader slowdown across the continent.

Verheijen attributed the recovery to targeted interventions, including intelligence-led security deployments to curb oil theft, the implementation of presidential directives aimed at improving fiscal competitiveness and efforts to address structural inefficiencies in project costs. She noted that the country recorded its first major deepwater investment in over a decade, as well as renewed interest in non-associated gas projects, signalling restored investor confidence.

"Nigeria's upstream sector has undergone and is undergoing a fundamental repositioning and transformation. When this administration assumed office in June 2023, Nigeria's upstream sector was at a critical inflection point. Production had fallen to 1.2 million barrels per day. Investor confidence was weak. We had not seen a major deepwater Final Investment Decision in over a decade. Two years later, the fundamentals have shifted.

"Production has recovered to over 1.5 million barrels per day, a 400,000-barrel increase in less than three years. Nigeria emerged as Africa's leading oil and gas investment destination in 2024 and sustained that momentum in 2025, attracting more than $8 billion in upstream FIDs despite a broader regional slowdown," Verheijen stressed.

On competitiveness, she acknowledged increasing global competition from emerging hydrocarbon provinces such as Namibia, Guyana, Senegal and Mozambique, but said Nigeria has repositioned itself through reforms that place it among the top quartile of attractive investment destinations. According to her, the government has focused on improving regulatory speed, enhancing inter-agency coordination and ensuring direct engagement between the presidency and global energy investors to fast-track decisions.

Verheijen also highlighted the impact of reforms in local content policy, noting that recent directives aim to eliminate non-value-adding intermediaries while strengthening genuine Nigerian capacity in engineering, fabrication and service delivery.