Regulatory Issues In $1.3bn Shell-Renaissance Divestment Will Be Resolved Soon, Olu Verheijen Assures

Olu Verheijen, the special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on energy, has indicated that regulatory issues surrounding Shell’s proposed sale of its Nigerian onshore assets to the local consortium Renaissance should soon be resolved.

“I am sure that in short order it will be resolved with the regulator in a way that addresses our own objectives to continue to accelerate exits for international oil companies,” Verheijen told the Energy Reporters’ Association on Wednesday.

The $1.3 billion divestment, announced on January 16, involves Renaissance—a group of Nigerian firms that includes ND Western, Aradel Energy, First Exploration & Production (E&P), Waltersmith, and Petrolin.

In October, the chief executive officer of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Gbenga Komolafe, confirmed that the federal government had approved four other divestment deals.

These included Eni’s sale of Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) to Oando Plc, Equinor’s sale to Project Odinmin Investments Limited, a TotalEnergies deal with Telema Energies, and ExxonMobil’s sale of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited to Seplat Energy. However, Komolafe noted that Shell’s asset sale to Renaissance had yet to pass regulatory inspection.

During the call, Verheijen highlighted that the government is focused on ensuring that the incoming smaller companies can invest adequately in the fields they acquire from major oil producers.

“For the independents who are coming in onshore, we want to make sure that they align with our objectives of rapidly growing production,” she said, stressing the need for technical and financial capability “to ensure that there is a technical and financial capacity and that some of the obligations that need to be addressed are being addressed.”

This transaction forms part of Shell’s strategic shift away from Nigerian onshore operations, in line with broader efforts to support local industry investment and expand domestic energy capacity.

Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi

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