Nigerian President refuses to approve sale of Exxon Mobil assets | Photo credits: ExxonMobil
ABUJA, Aug 11 (Reuters) – Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has reneged on his original agreement to Exxon Mobil’s sale of its shallow water assets to Seplat, his spokesman said on Thursday, after the regulator oil regulation came out 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 and TotalEnergies, which have announced their intention to sell some 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)