Nigeria’s upstream oil regulator approved key onshore asset sales by international oil companies.
This allows Oando and newcomer Project Odinmim to acquire assets, stated Gbenga Komolafe, the agency head, on Wednesday.
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) approved deals from Eni’s Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) to Oando and Equinor to Project Odinmim.
Komolafe announced this at an energy conference in Abuja.
These deals, pending for months, required approval from the petroleum minister under a new oil industry law.
Approvals for Exxon Mobil’s $1.3 billion sale to Seplat and Shell’s divestment to Renaissance are still pending.
“The signing ceremony will be conducted in the next few days,” Komolafe said.
Eni previously announced the sale of its NAOC subsidiary to Oando in September, including interests in four onshore oil mining leases.
Oando’s CEO, Ainojie Alex Irune, noted further complexities in the deals.
“We had four transactions; two were approved, one on a yellow flag and the other in abeyance,” he said. NUPRC did not specify the approved leases for Oando.
