- TotalEnergies’ exit follows Shell’s exit from the Nigerian onshore oil sector in January.
- The company is retaining its Nigerian gas assets for expansion in LNG development.
TotalEnergies has stated plans to sell its minority stake in a significant Nigerian onshore oil joint venture, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC). This follows Shell’s exit from Nigeria’s onshore oil sector. The CEO of TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanne, disclosed this during a presentation of the company’s financial results. Pouyanne said the company, which holds 10 per cent interest in SPDC, is looking to restructure its portfolio since producing oil in the Niger Delta has become difficult.
Meanwhile, the company noted that it is retaining its Nigerian gas assets, considering them essential for its expansion in liquefied natural gas development over the upcoming years. “We want to divest our share of SPDC and are looking to reshape the portfolio. Fundamentally, it’s because producing this oil in the Niger Delta is not in line with our [Health, Security, and Environmental] policies; it’s a real difficulty,” the firm said. Exxon Mobil, Eni, and Norway’s Equinor have all sold assets in Nigeria in recent years to focus on newer, more profitable operations elsewhere.
In January this year, Shell announced a plan to sell its 30 per cent stake in SPDC to Renaissance, a consortium of five companies based in Nigeria and an international energy group, for up to $2.4 billion. SPDC operates a network of pipelines, 263 oil wells, 56 gas wells, six gas plants, two oil export terminals, and a power plant. The SPDC JV is an unincorporated joint venture comprised of SPDC Ltd (30 per cent), the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (55 per cent), Total Exploration and Production Nigeria Ltd (10 per cent) and Nigeria Agip Oil Company Ltd (5 per cent).