TotalEnergies has said that it is not leaving the Niger Delta with its $860 million sale and purchase agreement (SPA) deal with Chappal Energies.
The parent company had announced that its subsidiary TotalEnergies EP Nigeria signed an SPA with Chappal Energies for the sale of its 10% interest in the SPDC JV licenses in Nigeria
According to a company’s statement seen by New Telegraph on Wednesday, it said the transaction was concluded for a firm consideration of $860 million.
It added that closing of the deal is subject to customary conditions, including regulatory approvals.
The company explained that SPDC JV is an unincorporated joint venture between Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (55%), Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (30%, operator), TotalEnergies EP Nigeria (10%) and NAOC (5%), which holds 18 licenses in the Niger Delta.
It said: “TotalEnergies EP Nigeria will sell to Chappal Energies its 10% participating interest and all its rights and obligations in 15 licenses of SPDC JV, which are producing mainly oil. Production from these licenses represented approximately 14,000 barrels equivalent per day in Company share in 2023.
“TotalEnergies EP Nigeria will also transfer to Chappal Energies its 10% participating interest in the 3 other licenses of SPDC JV which are producing mainly gas (OML 23, OML 28 and OML 77), while retaining full economic interest in these licenses which currently account for 40% of Nigeria LNG gas supply.
“The transaction was concluded for a firm consideration of USD 860 million. Closing is subject to customary conditions, including regulatory approvals.”
President Exploration & Production of TotalEnergies, Nicolas Terraz said: “TotalEnergies continues to actively manage its portfolio in Nigeria, in line with its strategy to focus on its oil offshore and gas assets.
“After the launch of the Ubeta gas development on OML58 license last month, this divestment of our interest in SPDC JV licenses allows us to focus our onshore Nigeria presence solely on the integrated gas value chain and is designed to ensure the continuity of feed gas supply to Nigeria LNG in the future.”
Country Communication Manager at TotalEnergies in Nigeria, Dr. Charles Ebereonwu, in a response to New Telegraph said the company is not leaving the Niger Delta with the $860 million SPA deal with Chappal Energies.
He added that the deal concerns the sale of non-operated interests in 15 licenses in SPDC.
He added that TotalEnergies is retaining as non-operator the economic interest in three gas blocks (OML 23, OML 28, OML 77) and their associated gas infrastructure, that are representing a large part of the SPDC gas supply to Nigeria LNG (NLNG) plant.
According to him, it is in line with its strategy of active portfolio management focusing its onshore Nigeria presence on the integrated gas value chain.
Ebereonwu said: “Onshore, TotalEnergies remains also the operator of the OML58 in the Delta on which we are developing gas projects such as Ubeta which FID was recently announced (June 2024).
“This low-emission development, with a high local content (> 90% of manhours done locally) will contribute to growing the gas and LNG production of the country by increasing supply to Nigeria LNG.”
Meanwhile, an Italian contractor, Saipem has awarded a Chinese shipyard a significant contract to deliver a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel for TotalEnergies’ $6 billion Kaminho project — formerly known as Cameia-Golfinho — offshore Angola.
According to Upstream, the award, was made yesterday and it marked a key milestone to monetise oil and gas deposits in Angola’s pre-salt Kwanza basin, which is pivotal for an Angolan government that aims to attract further investment in upstream activities, sustain oil production and stimulate development.
