KEY POINTS
- Chevron plans to join Nigeria’s next oil licensing round and bring in a drilling rig by late 2026 as it seeks to expand its operations.
- The company has acquired stakes in two offshore exploration licences from TotalEnergies and is awaiting regulatory approval.
- Chevron reports a year without theft or sabotage in Nigeria, supporting renewed optimism about the operating environment.
Chevron has confirmed plans to join Nigeria’s upcoming oil licensing auction and is preparing to bring a new drilling rig into the country by late 2026, signalling a renewed appetite for growth in Africa’s biggest crude producer as the government attempts to lure long-delayed investment back into the upstream sector.
The company’s chairman and managing director for its Nigeria and Mid-Africa unit, Jim Swartz, said in Lagos that recent regulatory clarity under the Petroleum Industry Act has given the firm enough confidence to expand its presence.
He spoke after meeting officials of the upstream regulator, who are overseeing one of the country’s most ambitious licensing rounds in years.
Swartz said Chevron intends to take part in the auction expected next year, describing Nigeria as a core territory in its future plans.
The government has lined up 50 fields to be offered through a digital platform managed by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission. Officials say the round is central to reversing years of underinvestment that have held back production, despite Nigeria’s ambition to reclaim lost barrels in global oil markets.
Nigeria’s regulatory overhaul and rising security calm give majors reason to look again at dormant assets
The renewed interest comes as other international oil companies signal they may also participate. TotalEnergies, which has been reassessing its Nigerian portfolio amid a global rebalancing of assets, has already expressed interest in the auction.
Chevron is meanwhile deepening its commitments. The company recently reached an agreement to buy a 40 percent stake in two offshore exploration licences, PPL 2000 and PPL 2001, from TotalEnergies, and is waiting for regulatory sign-off that would allow development work to begin sooner rather than later.
Swartz said a newly discovered resource near Agbami has strengthened the case for deploying a fresh rig in late 2026, while discussions are underway to extend leases across some of its long-held assets.
He added that the company has experienced a full year without any incidents of oil theft or sabotage in its Nigerian operations, the longest uninterrupted stretch the firm has recorded in recent memory.
For an industry long plagued by pipeline vandalism, stolen crude and costly shutdowns, executives view this calm as a sign that tighter security and community engagement may finally be paying dividends.
The government is banking heavily on these developments to restore investor confidence. Its hope is that the next licensing round, supported by a more predictable regulatory framework, can help lift output and set a new baseline for production growth over the coming decade.
