Total Energies has revealed plans to sell its minority stake in its Nigerian oil joint venture. The Chief Executive Officer , Patrick Pouyanne, mentioned during the company’s annual results presentation that they aim to divest from Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) because producing oil in the Niger Delta doesn’t align with their health, security, and environmental policies.

The company intends to keep its Nigerian gas resources, crucial for their planned expansion of liquefied natural gas development. They announced investing up to $6 billion in Nigeria, mainly focusing on gas production, as they shift away from hydrocarbons towards cleaner energy.

Total Energies has been a key player in Nigeria’s downstream oil and gas sector for over 50 years and has operated in over 130 countries. They’re selling their interest in 13 onshore fields and 3 shallow-water fields, with a daily production of over 20,000 barrels of oil equivalent. Infrastructure like 3,500 km of pipelines connecting to key crude export terminals in the Niger Delta at Bonny in Rivers State and Forcados in Delta State is also part of the sale.

This move by Total Energies follows the current trend of multinational companies’ divesting from onshore to deep-water fields.

Recall that earlier in January, London-based Shell Plc’s Nigeria struck a deal to sell its onshore business to a consortium of five companies. https://ndlink.org/shell-concludes-1-3-billion-sale-of-nigerian-onshore-subsidiary/-