Equinor ASA has accomplished the sale of all its Nigerian property, together with a 20.21 % stake within the Agbami oil area, to an African firm for as much as $1.2 billion.
The divestment of Equinor Nigeria Power Co. to Chappal Energies Mauritius Ltd. permits the Norwegian majority state-owned vitality main to deal with core areas, Equinor stated. The switch ended Equinor’s presence of over three a long time within the West African nation.
“The native staff will proceed to be employed by the transferred firm underneath the management of the brand new proprietor, marking a whole nation exit for Equinor”, Equinor stated in an replace to the unique sale announcement it posted on-line November 29, 2023.
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The transaction worth consists of a $710 million buy value and contingent funds.
“Equinor doesn’t retain any materials liabilities aside from sure contractual liabilities to the customer underneath the transaction agreements”, it added.
The corporate stated in asserting the sale late final 12 months, “Equinor has been current in Nigeria since 1992 and has performed a big position in creating Nigeria’s largest deep-water area, Agbami”. It famous the sphere has produced over one billion barrels of oil since startup 2008.
Positioned within the oil-rich Niger Delta, Agbami is operated by Chevron Corp. with a 67.3 % curiosity. Prime 127 Nigeria Ltd. holds the remaining 12.49 %.
The world’s greatest oil discovery in 1998, Agbami holds an estimated 900 million barrels of potential recoverable volumes, in keeping with data from Chevron.
Agbami, which spans 45,000 acres and sits at a water depth of about 4,800 ft, is tied again to a floating manufacturing, storage and offloading vessel. Mendacity 70 miles off the coast of the central Niger Delta area, it partly lies in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 128, the place Equinor was the operator with a 53.85 % curiosity. Agbami can be a part of OML 127, a three way partnership between operator Chevron (32 %), Famfa Oil Ltd. (60 %) and Prime 127 (eight %).
Equinor additionally operated OML 129 with a 53.85 % share. Three out of 4 wells drilled right here yielded discoveries in keeping with a Wooden Mackenzie report October 5, 2023, which labeled Bilah, Nnwa and Sehki as non-commercial discoveries.
“This transaction realizes worth and is in step with Equinor’s technique to optimize its worldwide oil and gasoline portfolio and deal with core areas”, Nina Koch, Equinor senior vice-president for African operations, stated of the exit.
Apart from Equinor, vitality heavyweights Eni SpA, Exxon Mobil Corp., Shell PLC and TotalEnergies SE have initiated divestments in Nigeria, largely onshore.
Chappal can be the customer for TotalEnergies’ 10 % stake within the SPDC Joint Enterprise, in a transaction introduced July 17, 2024.
Shell earlier introduced January 16, 2024, it was exiting the JV however has did not win regulatory clearance to shut the transaction. On November 3, 2024, Monetary Instances reported the British firm continued to interact with Nigerian authorities.
Nigerian Nationwide Petroleum Co. Ltd. is almost all proprietor of the SPDC JV holding 55 %. Shell owns 30 %. Eni owns the remaining 5 % by Nigerian Agip Oil Co. Ltd. (NAOC); the Italian state-controlled firm additionally bought NAOC however has determined to retain the SPDC JV stake.
To contact the creator, e-mail jov.onsat@rigzone.com
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