Nigeria has blocked Shell’s sale of its entire onshore and shallow-water oil operations, but approved a similar deal by Exxon Mobil, Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission said on Monday.
Shell’s asset sale for up to $2.4 billion to Renaissance consortium, comprising five companies, was first announced in January.
Exxon’s deal with Seplat Energy has awaited regulatory approval for more than two years since a $1.28 billion fee was announced in February 2022.
In a speech at an event in Abuja, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) CEO, Gbenga Komolafe, said the Shell deal “could not scale (the) regulatory test,” but did not elaborate.
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Exxon’s transaction was granted ministerial approval.
President Bola Tinubu had signalled on October 1, 2024. that the Exxon-Seplat deal would receive ministerial approval after getting clearance from the regulator.
“We welcome the regulator’s announcement and look forward to formally receiving the ministerial consent as we work toward the conclusion of the sale,” Exxon had said in a statement.
Speaking during the commission’s launch of the Project 1 million barrels of oil per day (mmbpd) initiative, the commission’s chief executive officer said NUPRC received applications in respect of five divestment transactions.
The divestment deals, according to the CEO, include Eni’s divestment of Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) to Oando Plc ($783m), and Equinor Nigeria Energy Company Limited’s divestment to Project Odinmin Investments Limited ($700m).
Others are the TotalEnergies-Telema Energies deal, as well as ExxonMobil’s sale of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU) to Seplat Energy.
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