In October 2024, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) approved Seplat Energy's purchase of Exxon Mobil's onshore assets valued at $1.28bn after over two years of awaiting regulatory approval. The development signaled the retreat of Exxon Mobil from onshore activities without much hassle.
At the time the Exxon Mobil-Seplat deal was approved, the NUPRC Commission Chief Executive Officer, Gbenga Komolafe said the Shell deal "Could not scale (the) regulatory test".
Less than six months after the deal has been allowed to scale through. The ShellPetroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), which has operated in Nigeria for 46 years was renamed Renaissance Africa Energy Company following the acquisition of the company's entire stake by Renaissance Africa Energy Holdings. The announcement was made on Thursday, March 13, 2025.
Renaissance announced that it had successfully completed the landmark transaction between itself and Shell for the acquisition of the entire (100%) equity holding in the oldest oil firm in Nigeria.
Our correspondent reports that SPDC came into being in 1979, incorporating assets of the older Shell-BP consortium.
"Going forward, SPDC will be renamed as Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited," a spokesperson for the new company, Tony Okonedo said in a statement.
"We are extremely proud to have completed this strategic acquisition. The Renaissance vision is to be "Africa's leading oil and gas company, enabling energy security and industrialisation in a sustainable manner," said Tony Attah, Managing Director/CEO of Renaissance.
Renaissance Africa Energy Holdings is a consortium consisting of four Nigerian independent oil and gas companies: ND Western Limited, Aradel Holdings Plc. FIRST Exploration and Petroleum Development Company Limited and Waltersmith Group, each with considerable operations experience in the Niger Delta, and Petrolin, an international energy company with global trading experience and a pan African outlook.
Ordinarily, the deal holds great promise in boosting Nigerian content and or indigenous participation in the oil and gas sector given the companies that make up the consortium, which means that greater percentage of the revenue from the operation would be domiciled into the country.
For record purposes, the Shell assets hold a combined estimated volume of 6.73 billion barrels of oil and condensate and 56.27 trillion cubic feet of associated and non-associated gas.
But despite the potentials in the transaction, it has been a subject of controversy and litigation. Recently, the Global Gas Refining Limited is contesting the divestment over its previous business dealings with Shell.
Also, there have been issues over environmental concerns, especially pollution in communities in Niger Delta.
A coalition of non governmental organisations (NGOs) in Bayelsa State had called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to reject Shell's request to sell its remaining shares in the SPDC to the Renaissance consortium.
The group, during a protest rally in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital stated that approving Shell's request would weaken regulatory independence and ignore the interests of the Niger Delta communities.
Chairman of Bayelsa Non Governmental Organisations Forum (BANGOF), Mr Taritien Boco, said if the federal government allowed the multinational oil companies to sell their assets, it will jeopardise the environmental and social wellbeing of the region for many generations to come, and undermine Nigeria's sovereignty.
The House of Representatives also in April called on the federal government to halt the divestment of oil assets by Shell and TotalEnergies in Nigeria until their outstanding environmental and social liabilities in the Niger Delta are addressed.
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Despite these calls, the NUPRC approved the divestment with the SPDC changing its name to Renaissance.
While the NUPRC has vowed to address the concerns raised with the divestment, it is left to be seen how the new consortium would carry on with the existing litigations over the divestment.
In any case, the development is both positive and negative for the oil and gas industry with the hope that the new operators would immediately swing into action to resume operation of the onshore assets which has stalled for over 10 years.
But exiting the onshore operation does not mean that Shell has totally exited the country. The Shell Companies would remain an integral part of the oil and gas industry with its deepwater operations where "Shell is not leaving Nigeria. We are not going anywhere, and we will be together for a long time," Chair of ShellCompanies in Nigeria, Mr. Osagie Okunbor had said.
