Benue State has secured three oil and gas blocks in the 2025 licensing round conducted by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), marking a significant milestone in the state’s quest to develop its hydrocarbon resources.
The awarded blocks—Petroleum Prospecting Licences (PPL) 800, 801 and 902—are located across the Benue Trough and Anambra Basin, covering parts of Otukpo, Apa and Okpokwu Local Government Areas. The blocks also contain the legacy of five exploration wells, with the oldest dating back to 1954.
The allocations followed the commercial bid conference held on July 21 at the Transcorp Event Centre in Abuja, where 31 companies emerged successful bidders for 37 of the 50 oil blocks offered by the NUPRC. According to the commission, the licensing round attracted 143 companies, which submitted about 200 bids, while 13 blocks received no bids.
PPL 800, located in the Southern Benue Trough and covering Otukpo and Apa, was awarded to Dakoda & U Limited. PPL 801, also situated in the Southern Benue Trough, was awarded to Eyre Energy Limited, while PPL 902, located within the Anambra Basin and extending into Okpokwu Local Government Area, went to South-borne Oil and Gas Limited.
The NUPRC described the 2025 licensing round as historic, noting that frontier inland basins, including the Benue Trough, Anambra Basin, Chad Basin and Benin Basin, attracted strong investor interest alongside the traditional oil-producing areas of the Niger Delta for the first time. Of the 37 blocks awarded, 15 are located in frontier basins.
PPL 800 contains four historic exploration wells drilled by Shell and TotalEnergies between 1954 and 1967, including Ocheku River-1, which reached a depth of 6,020 feet and remains the deepest well among the three awarded blocks.
PPL 902 contains the Opiarum-1 well, drilled by Shell in 1955 and regarded as primarily gas-prone, while PPL 801 has no previous drilling history.
Industry observers say the renewed investor interest in the Benue Trough could pave the way for fresh exploration activities, including seismic surveys and appraisal drilling, if commercially viable oil and gas reserves are confirmed.
Under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, host communities where oil and gas operations take place are entitled to benefits through the Host Communities Development Trust, which is funded from a percentage of operators’ expenditure. The provision is expected to support infrastructure development and improve the welfare of communities hosting petroleum operations.
