A new official report has revealed that Nigeria is sitting on vast untapped oil and gas reserves valued at an astonishing N341.25 trillion, a sum equivalent to six times the country’s entire 2025 national budget.
The finding, detailed in a recent publication by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), highlights a critical paradox for a nation simultaneously grappling with soaring debt and infrastructure deficits.
The report states that over 3.5 billion barrels of oil and condensate reserves, along with 18.8 trillion cubic feet of gas, remain locked in undeveloped fields across various Nigerian basins. At an average oil price of $65 per barrel and an exchange rate of N1,500 to the dollar, this underground wealth is valued at approximately $227.5 billion, or N341.25 trillion.
This colossal figure starkly overshadows the government’s fiscal plan. The 2025 budget stands at N54.9tn, meaning the value of the undeveloped resources is over 600% larger.
To further illustrate the scale, an analysis shows this amount could finance the construction of over two million primary healthcare centres at N150m each, build over five million blocks of two classrooms, or pave approximately 413,000 kilometres of roads.
This untapped potential exists alongside a worsening debt burden. According to the Debt Management Office, Nigeria’s total public debt rose to N149.39tn as of March 31, 2025, a significant increase from the previous year. The country continues to rely heavily on imports to meet its refined petroleum needs, even as its own refineries suffer from chronic crude shortages, a situation exacerbated by these undeveloped fields.
The persistence of unlicensed and undeveloped oil blocks directly impacts national income, forcing increased borrowing. The report attributes the rising debt stock to new government borrowings and the depreciation of the naira, which inflated the local currency value of external loans. It was noted that a sizeable volume of yet-to-be-extracted oil has already been committed to securing loans.
A detailed analysis of deepwater reserves reveals a sector with significant untapped potential. A pie chart in the report shows that 31.65% of these fields remain entirely undeveloped, representing the largest category. In stark contrast, only 12.25% are currently classified as developed and operational. A further 5.10% represent fields where development is in view, indicating limited projects in the pipeline.
The data for deep offshore oil and condensate reserves is equally telling: 1.7 billion barrels are in developed fields (25%), 1.5 billion barrels (23%) are in fields tagged ‘development in view’, while the majority, 52%, sit in undeveloped fields. The report concludes, “This implies that over 3,500 MMB of oil and condensate reserves and 18.8 TCF of non-associated gas and associated gas reserves are locked in undeveloped fields.”
The scale of the issue is vast, with the NUPRC identifying 220 unlicensed oil blocks scattered across onshore and offshore basins. The deep offshore terrain alone accounts for 59 of these blocks, followed by the Benue Trough with 41 and the Chad Basin with 40. The commission clarified that these blocks “would be handed to concessionaires after periodic bid rounds and conditions had been met,” in line with the Petroleum Industry Act.
Industry leaders have expressed deep concern over the situation. During the 50th anniversary of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Bayo Ojulari, emphasised the urgency of converting reserves into cash. “Our oil in the ground doesn’t matter to anybody. It has to convert to cash for the country to get the benefit that we need. We’ve had oil in the ground for so long, so long. It’s time to begin to get the deals that will get the oil out of the ground,” he said.
Ojulari was represented at the event by the company’s Executive Vice-President, Upstream, Udobong Ntia.
The President of NAPE, Johnbosco Uche, pointed to solutions, stressing the need for reliable data and consistent investment drives. He recommended the NUPRC hold bid rounds annually to ramp up production.
“With the right data available to the investors to showcase the potential we have, investors will come, because this is still one of the most prolific basins in the world; the Niger Delta is rich,” Uche said.
He added, “So, we will actually recommend that in one way or another, we can still have that bid round, no matter how small it is, on an annual basis… That is the only way we can ramp up that production we’re talking about.”
Uche also noted that the “days of easy oil and gas are gone,” highlighting the need for the right technology and seismic data to unlock new reserves that have yet to be discovered in the Niger Delta.
The government has also issued warnings to current leaseholders. In April, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, threatened to withdraw oil blocks from owners that have failed to develop them.
“We cannot continue to have assets sitting idle for 20 to 30 years without development. If you are not utilising an asset and it remains underdeveloped for decades, it neither adds value to your books nor to us as a country,” he said.
Lokpobiri encouraged collaborative measures but concluded with a firm ultimatum: “Otherwise, like any responsible government, we will take back these assets and allocate them to those willing to go to work.”
Discussion about this post