By Gbenga Adedayo
French energy giant, TotalEnergies, has concluded plans to offload its interest from onshore and shallow water acreages in Nigeria, joining other majors like Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron which have begun the process of leaving Nigeria’s onshore fields.
This was confirmed by its Chief Executive, Patrick Pouyanne, on Thursday during a conference call that TotalEnergies SE will put up for sale its minority stake in a Nigerian oil joint venture, joining the exodus of supermajors from onshore fields in Africa’s largest crude producer.
The French energy giant will look to offload its 10% interest in a firm that holds 20 onshore and shallow water permits in the West African country, and that Shell Plc, the operator of the licenses, is already considering bids from four local firms for its 30% shareholding in the company.
Oil majors have been selling onshore and shallow water assets to Nigerian independent producers for more than a decade. That process is accelerating, with Exxon Mobil Corp. agreeing in February to sell some of its Nigerian assets to Seplat Energy Plc for at least $1.28 billion.
International firms want to focus on deep-water fields away from the difficulties of operating in close proximity with local communities. Total also operates four other onshore and shallow water licenses in Nigeria.
“Disruption of local communities are sources of great concerns” in the country, TotalEnergies Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne said on conference call on Thursday.
The other shareholders in the joint venture are the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Company, which holds the majority stake, and Eni SpA, which has yet to reveal if it intends to sell its interest.
-Bloomberg