Nigeria’s oil regulator the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has approved the sale of onshore assets by international oil companies Eni and Equinor.
Announced by Commission Chief Executive of the NUPRC Gbenga Komolafe on July 3 in Abuja, Eni will divest its wholly owned subsidiary the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) to multinational energy company Oando while Equinor will sell its local assets to Mauritanian company Project Odinmim.
Eni’s deal includes the NAOC’s stakes in four onshore blocks comprising oil mining leases 60, 61, 62 and 63. Eni will continue its presence in Nigeria through its subsidiaries Nigerian Agip Exploration and Agip Energy Natural Resources, which will focus on operated offshore activities.
Initially announced in September 2023, the sale of the NAOC to Oando and Equinor’s assets to Project Odinmim had been pending for months due to regulatory requirements under Nigeria’s new oil industry law, which required sign-off from the country’s Minister of Petroleum Resources.
Approvals for energy supermajor ExxonMobil’s $1.3 billion asset sale to energy supplier Seplat Energy and multinational energy company Shell’s divestment to oil and gas company Renaissance Africa Energy Company remain pending.
