Nigeria’s oil regulator has cleared a $510 million deal by TotalEnergies to sell its 12.5% stake in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 118, home to the offshore Bonga oilfield, to partners Shell and Agip.
According to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), TotalEnergies will transfer 10% to Shell for $408 million and 2.5% to Agip for $102 million.
The transaction lifts Shell’s interest in Bonga to 67.5%, reinforcing its focus on offshore operations in Nigeria following the sale of its troubled onshore assets to Renaissance, a consortium of four local firms and an international energy group.
The regulator said it carried out due diligence on Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPco) and Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited (NAE), confirming their ability to manage the asset effectively.
“SNEPco and NAE have demonstrated both technical and managerial competence to optimally contribute to upstream operations in OML 118,” the NUPRC noted.
Approval remains subject to ministerial consent. Under the deal, SNEPco and NAE will assume all decommissioning, abandonment, and community-related liabilities linked to the divested stake. They must also pay a combined 7% of the deal’s value in premium and processing fees.
Separately, the NUPRC this week revoked approval for TotalEnergies’ planned $860 million sale to Mauritius-based Chappal Energies, citing failure by both parties to meet required financial commitments.
Source: Reuters
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