Who really owns Nigeria's oil blocks? What the new disclosure rule will and will not show

When a company wins an oil block, the name on the licence is a company. The people who actually own it, and who take the profits, can sit several layers back. They may hold their shares through other companies, trusts or nominees. Those people are called beneficial owners, and Nigeria is again promising to find out who they are.

What the 2026 round asks for

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) is offering 40 blocks onshore, in shallow water and in deep water. Its bid portal opens on 20 November.

When the commission announced the round in early October, it said every bidder would have to disclose its beneficial owners. It also said it would publish its evaluation method and the results more fully. These steps follow recommendations from NEITI, the agency that audits the oil sector, Daily Trust reported.

The full bid guidelines had not been published when this story was written. So the details are not yet known: how much information bidders must give, and in what form.

The rule is not new

NUPRC first asked for this in January 2023. A notice told every holder of a licence or lease to declare its beneficial owners: who they are, how much they own and how they exercise control. New applicants had to file the same form with their applications. Any change in ownership had to be reported within 30 days, Arise News reported at the time.

The test is the same one the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) uses for every company in Nigeria. You count as a person with significant control if you hold 5% or more of the shares or votes. You also count if you can appoint most of the directors, or if you have real influence over the company. Some countries set the bar at 25%, so 5% is strict.

What the public can already see

The CAC keeps a register of the people who control Nigerian companies. Its Registrar-General said in 2023 that anyone can search it free of charge, by company name or by a person's name. Late filing attracts a penalty of ₦10,000 a day. A false declaration can lead to up to three years in prison, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.

In October 2026 the CAC said it had struck more than 500,000 companies off the register for failing to update their ownership details. It also said it had received over 107,000 requests to verify who owns a company, mostly from law enforcement agencies.

NEITI published a separate register for oil, gas and mining in 2019. The EITI, the global body NEITI belongs to, notes that it only covers companies in NEITI's audits for 2012 to 2018. Nigeria scored 72 points, a moderate rating, when the EITI last assessed it in November 2023.

The open question

Telling the regulator is not the same as telling the public. NUPRC has said bidders must disclose their owners. It has not said whether it will publish those names alongside the list of winners.

That matters because the last round was disputed. In the 2025 round, 31 companies won 37 blocks. In August 2026 a group called the Oil and Gas Professionals Forum called for the removal of the chief executives of NNPC and NUPRC. It also asked who the real beneficiaries of the block awards were. These are claims by the group, and no official body has made any finding on them.

NNPC rejected the calls. It said only NUPRC can allocate blocks under the Petroleum Industry Act, and that NNPC is a commercial company with no such power. We found no public reply from NUPRC to the group's claims.

Publishing the beneficial owners of every winning bidder would settle questions like these with records, not statements.

What it means for you

Oil blocks belong to all Nigerians. The government licenses them on the country's behalf, and the royalties and taxes fund budgets that pay for roads, salaries and power. When the real owners are hidden, it is harder to tell whether a block went to the best bidder or to someone with the right connections.

You can check some of this yourself. Search a company's name on the CAC's public register to see who controls it. NEITI's register at bo.neiti.gov.ng lists owners for older oil and mining licences.

When NUPRC announces the winners of the 2026 round, look for one thing: does the list name the people behind each company, or only the companies? That will show how far the new rule really goes.