Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited, a local oil and gas consortium, says it has received ministerial consent to acquire Shell Petroleum Development Company.
The company announced the development in a statement on Wednesday. The approval was reportedly given by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri. Efforts to get official confirmation from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission were unsuccessful.
In January, Shell said it agreed to sell its Nigerian onshore oil assets to Renaissance Africa for over $1.3bn — subject to regulatory approvals.
The assets are said to hold an estimated 6.73 billion barrels of oil and condensate, along with 56.27 trillion cubic feet of associated and non-associated gas.
Renaissance is a consortium formed by ND Western, Aradel Energy, First Exploration & Production, 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.
