Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has refuted the commission’s prior consensual knowledge on the recent publication in the BusinessDay of September 11, 2024, purporting that the Commission has accepted Shell International Plc’s bid to sell its onshore assets to Renaissance in a transaction worth $1.3 billion.

The NPRC through a press release made also available on its official website and signed by the commission’s Head, Public Affairs and Corporate Communication Mrs. Olaide Shonola, distanced the commission’s approval and endorsement for such false and unsubstantiated media circulation on the public space as reported by the above media.

“It much be firmly stated that the information contained in the publication did not emanate from the Commission. As part of the Commission’s commitment to transparency and accountability, it will communicate its position on the transaction to the public at the appropriate time,” NUPRC stated.

Noting that such unclaimed and unofficially confirmed information of such reasonable sensitive nature should not have been in public domain without rightly being disseminated through the commission media formation.

The commission thereby advised the Industry stakeholders and the general public to disregard the purported publication as it is baseless and unfathomably untrue position of the NUPRC on the matter as the commission will soon give its official media release on the transaction.

Shell has in January 2024 announced it had agreed to sell its 30% stake in SPDC to Renaissance Africa Energy a consortium of five mostly local companies namely ND Western, Aradel Energy, First E&P, Waltersmith and an international energy group Petrolin for up to $2.4 billion.

Shell further noted that the amounts above will be adjusted to reflect any shareholder distributions, above US$200 million, made prior to completion. Other contingent payments, including those related to gas supply to NLNG, may become payable depending on business performance and fluctuation of product prices.

“Completion of the transaction is subject to approvals by the Federal Government of Nigeria and other conditions and will preserve SPDC’s operating capabilities for benefit of joint venture. The transaction has been designed to preserve the full range of SPDC’s operating capabilities following the change of ownership. “

“This includes the technical expertise, management systems and processes that SPDC implements on behalf of all the companies in the SPDC Joint Venture (SPDC JV)*. SPDC’s staff will continue to be employed by the company as it transitions to new ownership.” Shell stated 

On the entire coverage of onshore assets involve in the above transaction, SPDC JV holds 15 oil mining leases for petroleum operations onshore and 3 oil mining leases for petroleum operations in shallow water in Nigeria. All these assets are operated by SPDC and as at December 31, 2022, SEC proved reserves that are the subject of this transaction were approximately 458 MMboe.

The Chairman of Shell Companies in Nigeria (SCIN), Mr. Osagie Okunbor has clarified that the planned divestment by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) would not affect any contract duly entered by the company, while the major projects in the pipeline, especially the gas projects would be developed under SNEPCo.

 He added that the divestment was business realignment and would only affect the shareholding structure of the company, while the operations and staff would remain intact.

The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), has struggled with hundreds of onshore oil spills across its wells as a result of theft, sabotage and operational issues that led to costly repairs over the years. SPDC operates a network of pipelines, 263 oil wells, 56 gas wells, six gas plants, two oil export terminals and a power plant, according to its website

TotalEnergies holds a 10% stake The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) onshore asset, “We want to divest our share of SPDC, and we are looking to reshape the portfolio,” Pouyanne said at TotalEnergies’ annual results presentation. “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.”

Just like Shell divestment is exclusive is its gas investment. TotalEnergies according to Pouyanne would equally keep its Nigerian onshore gas asset from the divestment.

‘’Shell is providing additional financing of up to US$1.3bln over future years to fund SPDC’s share of the development of the SPDC JV’s gas resources to supply feed gas to NLNG, and its share of specific decommissioning and restoration costs. This additional financing will only be drawn down when these costs are approved and incurred by the SPDC JV.” Shell Emphasized