African divestment deals are back in the frame

After some delay, the much-heralded sale of oil and gas companies’ mature upstream assets in sub-Saharan Africa has gained fresh momentum, with a clutch of deals reaching completion

The Nigerian government has approved the sale of ExxonMobil’s onshore Nigerian assets to domestic company Seplat Energy, more than two years after the $1.28b deal was first announced, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) CEO Gbenga Komolafe has confirmed. This landmark transaction, focused on ExxonMobil’s shallow-water holdings, follows formerly state-controlled Nigerian National Petroleum Company’s (NNPC’s) withdrawal of a legal challenge to a deal that will nearly treble London-listed Seplat’s production to 151,000boe/d. In Nigeria, at least, the sense has grown in recent months that the obstacles stymieing deals are evaporating. “The majors are exiting land and