Nigeria approves Shell and Agip's purchase of TotalEnergies stake in Bonga Oilfield

Nigeria's oil regulator approved a $510m deal for TotalEnergies, a company that owns 12.5% of the oil mining lease 118 (OML), which is home to the offshore Bonga Oilfield. The oilfield's operator Shell and Agip will receive the entire interest.

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission said TotalEnergies would transfer 10% of their interest to Shell for $408 million, while Agip would pay $102 millions for the remaining 2,5%.

Shell has increased its stake in Bonga from 66.5% to 67.5%. This shows that it is still interested in offshore Nigerian production.

Selling

It sold its soiled onshore assets, which were owned by four local companies as well as an international energy company to Renaissance.

The regulator confirmed that it had conducted due diligence on Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company and Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited to confirm their competency to operate the asset.

It said that "SNEPco & NAE have shown both technical and management competence to contribute optimally to the upstream operation in OML 118."

SNEPco, NAE, and the ministerial approval are required to assume any decommissioning and abandonment liabilities, as well as community obligations, relating to the divested interests. The transaction will be valued at 7%. They are also required to pay processing and premium fees.

The NUPRC revoked approval on Tuesday for TotalEnergies to sell $860 million worth of assets to Mauritius' Chappal Energies, because both sides failed to meet financial commitments necessary to complete the transaction.

(source: Reuters)