About 51 Oil Prospecting Licences (OPL) and Oil Mining Lease (OML) of different oil blocks have expired between 2010 and March 2017 and this is therefore threatening about $2 billion (N720 billion) in signature bonuses.
Another 85 OPL and OML will expire between April 2017 and 2029, according to upstream concession status obtained from the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
Experts believe that the failure to renew the licences is robbing the country of several billions of unpaid signature bonuses.
Already, the House of Representatives has begun its investigation into leakages within the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in respect of ownership, distribution and authenticity of OML, OPL, relinquishment, signature bonuses and bidding process.
About 17 Niger Delta onshore OMLs belonging to the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) will expire in the next two years.
Shell has decided to be silent on whether they will renew the oil blocks at expiration by 2019 or relinquish interest.