The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Mr. Gbenga Komolafe, has announced the completion of the divestment deals between Nigeria Agip Oil Company and Oando Plc, as well as that of Equinor and Project Odinmim, which are jointly worth about $1.5 billion.
Speaking at the Nigeria Oil and Gas conference on Wednesday in Abuja, Komolafe also gave an update on the $2.4bn Shell Petroleum Development Company and Renaissance divestment deal, as well as the $1.2bn ExxonMobil and Seplat deal.
He disclosed that as at June 2024, the country’s functional oil rigs increased to 34, and that a total of 31 oil blocks were currently on offer for bidding in the 2024 Licensing Round through the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, an agency of the Federal Government.
Commenting on the four major divestments by International Oil Companies in Nigeria, Komolafe said: “For some of you who were at the panel session on Tuesday, the Chairman of IPPG (Independent Petroleum Producers Group) raised issues about the need for us to give update on the divestment programmes that are ongoing.
“Now, I am here to give you real-time updates on the four major divestments in Nigeria. The NAOC-Oando divestment has been concluded. The signing ceremony is to be conducted in the coming days.
“The Equinor-Project Odinmim divestment had also been completed. Also, the signing ceremony is to be conducted in the coming days. For the SPDC–Renaissance deal, documents have been submitted by SPDC. The documents are undergoing due diligence as we speak.”
Komolafe also told the delegates at the conference that the ExxonMobil– Seplat deal, the concerned parties have “expressed commitment to proceed to apply for ministerial consent to NUPRC and we are yet to receive any as we speak.”
Meanwhile, Komolafe also said that Nigeria’s oil rigs increased to 34 in June 2024.
“Our rig count has increased progressively and it is something for us to celebrate. If you compare from 2019 up till 2022, at a point the rig count decreased to about 10 rigs, but today the situation has improved tremendously.
Compared to what we had in 2022 when we recorded a drop in rig count to about 10, I want to announce that as at June 2024, we had about 34 rigs in the industry, and that is a significant jump.
“And for us as a regulator we intend to continue through our regulatory processes to sustain this pace so that we can ramp up our oil production,” the report by Punch newspaper on Thursday quoted Komolafe as saying.
On the number of oil blocks that on offer to investors in the 2024 licensing round, he said, “The NUPRC has currently put on offer a total of 31 blocks as I speak, and that exercise commenced on April 29, 2024, and for our information, the registration exercise will close in about 48 hours from now, which is precisely by midnight of Friday, July 5, 2024.
“So if there are still potential investors that want to participate in this exercise as we have canvassed during the various road shows we conducted, we enjoin you as prospective and wise investors to take advantage of the next remaining 48 hours to participate.”
GIK/APA