The multinational holds 40 per cent in the partnership through MPNU and NNPC the remainder.
Seplat Energy entered into a contract with a Nigerian unit of Texas-based supermajor Exxon Mobil, Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU), with a view to procuring the latter’s entire oil assets in Africa’s biggest crude producer that date back to 1961 when the American firm first got the nod to prospect for oil in the country.
The transaction will hit closure once both parties complete a series of approvals with regulators including one having to do with a “ministerial consent,” Seplat said in a notification to the Nigerian Exchange Thursday morning.
“The Transaction encompasses the acquisition of the entire offshore shallow water business of ExxonMobil in Nigeria,” the statement said, “which is an established, high-quality operation with a highly skilled local operating team and a track record of safe operations, producing 95 kboepd (W.I.) in 2020”
Exxon Mobil, a member of the league of the world’s seven public energy companies commonly called Big Oil in industry parlance, runs another local subsidiary Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited but has been intent on divesting its stake in a joint venture operated with state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
The multinational holds 40 per cent in the partnership through MPNU and NNPC the remainder.
Seplat, which has been the subject of the takeover talks since at least November, also has its eyes set on Shell’s estimated $4 billion stake in another joint venture involving NNPC, and could be in a pole position to beat competitors like Sahara Group and Tony Elumelu-backed Heirs Holdings to it, given its stature as Nigeria’s biggest oil & gas company by market value.
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