Nigeria: Energy Law

The Nigerian energy sector, particularly the oil and gas industry, is governed by a complex web of statutory, contractual, and institutional frameworks regulating the exploration, production, transportation, and commercialization of petroleum resources. Owing to the technical complexity of operations, the multiplicity of stakeholders, including the State, multinational oil companies, indigenous operators, regulators, and host communities, as well as the enormous economic interests involved, disputes are an inevitable feature of the sector.

Nigeria's 2025 Petroleum Licensing Round offers 50 blocks across the Niger Delta, deep offshore, and frontier basins, targeting USD 10 billion in investment under the Petroleum Industry Act. With nearly 300 applicants competing, the round represents the most ambitious upstream acreage release in Nigeria's post-PIA era, testing the country's reformed regulatory framework at unprecedented scale.

The enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 (“PIA”) marked a fundamental shift in Nigeria’s petroleum regulatory regime, replacing the longstanding Petroleum Act 1969 and introducing extensive institutional and fiscal reforms aimed at modernising the sector. Notwithstanding these advancements, the transition has generated significant legal uncertainty, particularly concerning the determination of the applicable law for disputes that arose prior to the PIA’s enactment.

Under the Act, settlors who are typically petroleum operators, are required to establish and fund these trusts for the benefit of host communities.

The focus of this brief is specifically on a bilateral energy investment relationship between Nigeria and South Africa: two nations that represent, by any objective commercial assessment, the most logical and most strategically significant energy partnership on the African continent.

The Nigerian oil and gas industry stands on the brink of significant transformation as President Ahmed Tinubu approves amendments to the Petroleum Industry Act. What specific reforms are being proposed, and how will these changes reshape the regulatory landscape for one of Africa's most critical energy sectors?

This update highlights recent regulatory and market developments in Nigeria's power sector, including the proposed establishment of the Grid Asset Management Company Limited...

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has completed the pre-qualification stage of its 2025 Licensing Round and accordingly notified the successful...

In early 2026, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (the “Authority”) issued the Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Operations Regulations, 2025 (the “Regulations”), introducing a consolidated regulatory framework for the Nigeria’s midstream and downstream operations sectors.