Nigeria’s oil regulator has approved the sale of TotalEnergies’ minority stake in one of the country’s most significant deepwater assets, the Bonga oilfield, marking another step in the reshaping of Nigeria’s oil sector.
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) announced that it had cleared the French energy major’s $510 million divestment of its 12.5 per cent holding in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 118. Under the deal, Shell will acquire 10 per cent of the stake for $408 million, while Italian operator Agip will take the remaining 2.5 per cent for $102 million.
The transaction will lift Shell’s interest in Bonga to 67.5 per cent, consolidating its dominance in the country’s offshore portfolio. The Anglo-Dutch company has been shifting its focus towards deepwater assets in recent years, viewing them as less exposed to theft, sabotage, and community unrest than its onshore operations. Earlier this year, Shell completed the sale of its entire onshore business to Renaissance, a consortium of local and international investors, effectively ending its long and often fraught presence in the Niger Delta’s shallow fields.
NUPRC said it had thoroughly assessed the technical and managerial capacity of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) and Nigerian Agip Exploration (NAE) before approving the deal. Both companies, it added, were found to have the expertise to sustain operations at OML 118, which hosts the Bonga field, Nigeria’s first deepwater oil project and a cornerstone of the country’s offshore production.
The sale, however, is not yet fully complete. It still requires ministerial consent, the final layer of approval for upstream transactions in Nigeria. As part of the terms, Shell and Agip will assume responsibility for decommissioning, abandonment, and community development obligations tied to the asset. They will also be required to pay regulatory premiums and processing fees equivalent to seven per cent of the transaction’s value.
For TotalEnergies, the divestment is part of a wider strategy to rebalance its global portfolio by shedding non-core assets, cutting exposure to high-risk regions, and raising cash to invest in cleaner energy projects. In Nigeria, the company has been scaling back on certain oil holdings while maintaining positions in gas and deepwater, which it views as more resilient and commercially viable.
The move further entrenches Shell’s position as the dominant player in Nigeria’s deepwater sector, where it already operates several large fields. For the Nigerian government, the transaction comes at a delicate moment. The country is seeking to maximise returns from its hydrocarbons sector while also addressing environmental liabilities and community demands. By ensuring that decommissioning and local obligations are built into the sale, NUPRC is aiming to avoid the legacy disputes that have dogged earlier divestments.
The approval of the TotalEnergies sale reflects both the continuing global repositioning of major oil companies and Nigeria’s effort to manage the transition in a sector that still supplies the bulk of its foreign exchange earnings. The Bonga oilfield, which began production in 2005, remains a flagship project for Nigeria, and with Shell strengthening its hold, attention will now turn to whether ministerial consent is granted without delay.
