Nigeria Greenlights TotalEnergies’ Bonga Oil Field Sale to Shell, Agip

Bonga FPSO (Credit: Shell)

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has approved a sales purchase agreement (SPA) by TotalEnergies for its entire 12.5% stake in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 118, which contains Bonga offshore field, to Shell's SNEPco and Eni's Nigerian Agip Exploration (NAE).

According to the details of the agreement, TotalEnergies will transfer 10% of its interest to Shell's subsidiary SNEPco at a cost of $408 million while Eni's NAE will pay $102 million the remaining 2.5%.

“SNEPco and NAE have demonstrated both technical and managerial competence to optimally contribute to the upstream operations (explore, develop and produce) in OML 118. They already maintain a participating interest in the asset.

“Based on the presentations and documents submitted, there is clear evidence that they have access to funding to meet their financial obligations,” the Commission said.

The NUPRC further stated that TotalEnergies, a committed operator in Nigeria’s vibrant upstream sector, had also paid the statutory application fee for the deal.

The Commission noted that SNEPCO and NAE will bear the decommissioning and abandonment liabilities owed by TotalEnergies to the Federal Government of Nigeria with respect to the divested interest.

Following the transaction, OML118 PSC will be operated by SNEPCo (65%), in partnership with Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria (20%), and Nigerian Agip Exploration (15%).

Located deep offshore at 120 km south of the Niger Delta in Nigeria, it contains the Bonga field, which started production in 2005, as well as the Bonga North field, the development of which started in 2024.

Production from the OML 118 PSC, which is mainly oil, represents approximately 11,000 boe/d in company share in 2024.