ABUJA, Aug 11 (Reuters) – Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has backtracked on his initial agreement to Exxon Mobil XOM.N selling its shallow water assets to Seplat
SEPLAT.NG, its spokesperson said on Thursday, after the oil regulator ruled against it.
Muhammadu Buhari had started on Monday by endorsing the $1.28 billion (€1.24 billion) deal, but the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission said it opposed it, but did not give any. the reason.
The sale is closely followed by other major oil companies such as Shell SHEL.L and TotalEnergies
TTEF.PA, which announced their intention to sell certain local assets.
“The president has decided to let the regulator do its job. He is reversing his earlier approval, for now, to allow the process to be completed, that’s all,” the gatekeeper told Reuters. -speaker of the presidency, Garba Shehu.
Seplat said in a statement that it had not received any official notification of Muhammadu Buhari’s about-face, and specified that it was seeking clarification from the authorities.
Oil majors operating in Nigeria want to pull out of shallow water operations, citing concerns about disruption from local communities, in order to focus on deep water drilling.
(Report Felix Onuah, written by MacDonald Dzirutwe; French version Kate Entringer, edited by Tangi Salaün)