U.S. supermajor ExxonMobil has proposed an investment of $10 billion in Nigeria’s deepwater oil resource development, Stanley Nkwocha, spokesman and senior special assistant to the Nigerian President, said in a statement on Thursday.
International majors have shrunk their exposure to Nigeria’s energy sector in recent years, with transparency in the licensing rounds one of the reasons for Big Oil to divest from their Nigerian assets, on top of oil theft and frequent pipeline damages. ExxonMobil intends to sell its shallow water business in Nigeria to Seplat, the biggest Nigerian energy company by market value, in a $1.3 billion deal, which has yet to be approved by the regulator.