A fresh controversy has enveloped Nigeria's 2025 Licensing Bid Round, with multiple stakeholders in the oil and gas industry alleging widespread manipulation of the qualification process that systematically sidelined genuine bidders despite their full compliance with the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC)'s published requirements.

NUPRC says 13 oil blocks were returned to the government’s licensing basket after they failed to attract bids

The winners emerged at the commercial bid conference held on Tuesday at the Transcorp Event Centre, Abuja, marking the conclusion of the competitive phase of the licensing…