Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited, a local oil and gas consortium, says it has received ministerial consent to acquire Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).
The company announced the development in a statement on Wednesday.
In January, Shell said it agreed to sell its Nigerian onshore oil assets to Renaissance Africa for over $1.3 billion — subject to regulatory approvals.
Renaissance is a consortium formed by ND Western, Aradel Energy, First Exploration & Production (E&P), Waltersmith, and Petrolin.
However, on October 21, when the federal government announced the approval of other divestment deals, the Shell-Renaissance transaction did not scale the regulatory test.
Providing updates in the statement, Renaissance said the deal has now been consented to by President Bola Tinubu, who doubles as the minister of petroleum resources.
“Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited is pleased to announce that the Minister of Petroleum Resources has granted his consent to the sale of The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to Renaissance,” the statement reads.
“This approval marks a significant step forward from the announcement of the Sale and Purchase Agreements in January 2024.”
On October 30, Olu Verheijen, special adviser to the president on energy, said the issues around Shell’s proposed sale of its onshore assets to Renaissance would be resolved soon.
TheNewsMatrics reports that Renaissance had offered $1.3 billion for Shells onshore assets but approvals have been delayed due to concerns over the consortium’s ability to manage the assets.
