Shell made the approval of the sale of its controversial assets in the Niger Delta a condition of fresh investments off the coast of Nigeria, according to people familiar with the deals. The Anglo-Dutch company said on Monday it had made a final decision to invest a reported $5bn in the Bonga North project, a deepwater field 130 kilometres off the west African coast. The investment is a boost for President Bola Tinubu’s drive to attract much-needed capital into the Nigerian economy.
Renaissance, a mostly local consortium, is acquiring the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria , Shell’s onshore oil production unit in Africa’s largest producer. SPDC is the most important oil company in the country and part of a joint venture which produces about 30 per cent of Nigeria’s oil and gas. Shell owns 30 per cent of the JV, alongside 55 per cent held by the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Company.