Equinor has agreed to sell its Nigerian assets to a local company, Chappal Energies, for an undisclosed amount.
The Norwegian company has a 53.85% stake in OML 128. This gives it a unitised 20.21% stake in the Agbami oilfield, which Chevron operates.
Equinor is selling its local unit, Equinor Nigeria Energy Co. (ENEC), to Chappal.
“Nigeria has been an important part of Equinor’s international portfolio over the past 30 years. This transaction realises value and is in line with Equinor’s strategy to optimise its international oil and gas portfolio and focus on core areas,” said Equinor’s head of Africa, Nina Koch.
“Chappal Energies is a committed Nigerian-owned energy company with the ambition to develop the assets further, contributing to the Nigerian economy for years to come.”
Equinor has reported equity production of 19,600 barrels per day from Agbami in the most recent quarter. Agbami started up in 2008 and has produced more than 1 billion barrels of oil.
Baton handover
Chappal managing director Ufoma Immanuel said the company was “excited to take over the baton” from Equinor.
“Value creation, environmental stewardship, and community engagement are at the heart of everything we do, and our social and development impact will be the most important measurement of our success,” he said. “We are confident in our ability to make a lasting impact and are committed to fostering sustainable growth and contributing to Nigeria’s economic prosperity now and in the future.”
Immanuel is also the CFO at Energy Link Infrastructure (ELI). Bill Higgs, who has previously worked at Genel Energy, is chair of Chappal.
Closing of the deal is subject to various conditions, including regulatory and contractual approval.
Majors have been selling off assets in Nigeria for some time. They have tended to focus on selling off onshore and shallow water projects. ExxonMobil is selling its onshore unit to Seplat Energy, for instance, and Eni is selling out to Oando.
Nigeria’s government has been slow to approve these plans. Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) has, at times, set out plans to pre-empt the sales and buy the assets itself.
A report in Bloomberg from September said Africa Oil’s Prime Oil and Gas had submitted a bid to Equinor for the Agbami stake.
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