Commission says approval for divestment of oil firm legal

The NUPRC

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) says approvals fixed for the divestment woody of 2 lipid companies were successful enactment with the Petroleum Industry Act (2021).

READ ALSO:Niger Delta stakeholders impulse FG to cull lipid firms’ divestment plan

The companies are Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited (NAOC Ltd.) by Oando Plc. and Equinor Nigeria Energy Company (ENEC), by Chappal Energies.

Mrs Olaide Shonola, NUPRC’s Head of Public Affairs, made this known successful a connection connected Monday successful Abuja.

Shonola said that the divestment by Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU) to Seplat Energy Offshore Limited is presently undergoing the aforesaid consent support process and would beryllium completed wrong 120-day timeline provided by the PIA.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that erstwhile Vice President Atiku Abubakar had asked the Federal Government to explicate wherefore Oando Plc got an accelerated support to get AGIP/ENI.

The support for Oando is to bargain the onshore assets of the company.

Atiku had alleged that different transactions specified arsenic the Shell/Renaissance woody and the Mobil/Seplat proceed to endure delays.

Reacting to this, Shonola said the consent to Oando and Chappal Energies were fulfilled according to the regulatory process.

READ ALSO:CBN okays lipid firms spending 50 per cent of funds connected obligations

”In respect of the NAOC Divestment, NAOC by a missive of May 16, 2023, notified the Commission of its volition to proceed with the divestment of participating interests successful immoderate of its lipid and state assets.

“The Commission by a missive dated May 21, 2023, requested NAOC to supply accusation connected the projected assignee.

“NAOC by different missive dated July 24, 2023 notified the Commission that it had completed the method valuation of the companies shortlisted for the projected transaction.

“It submitted OANDO PNGCL and OANDO Cooperative arsenic qualified companies for the information of the Commission.

“The Commission by a missive dated Aug. 9, 2023 granted support to NAOC to proceed to the commercialized signifier of the transaction,” she said.

Shonola said, successful enactment with its processes, the Commission by a missive dated Dec. 14, 2023, requested the accusation contained successful the Commission’s owed diligence checklist connected the transaction.

She said NAOC by a missive dated Jan. 10, 2024, provided the accusation requested via the Commission’s missive dated Dec. 14, 2023.

Consequently, she said, the process was conducted successful compliance with the requirements of applicable legislations, regulations and guidelines.

This, she said, included the Petroleum Act, Petroleum Industry Act, Petroleum Drilling and Production Regulations, and the Upstream Asset Divestment and Exit Guidance Framework.

She said the Divestment Framework evaluated the divestments based connected Technical Capacity, Financial Viability, Legal Compliance, Decommissioning and Abandonment, Host Community Trust and Environmental Remediation among others.

Additionally, she said, NAOC obtained a waiver of pre-emption and consent to the divestment from NNPC Ltd., their spouse connected the blocks.

She said to guarantee owed diligence, the Commission, moving with reputable outer consultants identified important pre-sale liabilities inherent successful the assets to beryllium divested.

Furthermore, she said, the Commission’s thorough valuation and owed diligence process, anchored connected the Seven Pillars of the Divestment Framework, ensured that imaginable assignees were susceptible and compliant with ineligible requirements.

“The Commission subsequently made recommendations to the Minister of Petroleum Resources based connected broad assessments which covered the timeline for reappraisal of exertion nether the PIA and the NUPRC’s regulatory process.

“The Equinor-Chappal divestment followed the aforesaid regulatory process arsenic for the NAOC-Oando transaction,” she said.

“NUPRC assures the nationalist that the process for approving divestment applications is guided by PIA provisions and intelligibly defined frameworks successful the duty regulations, guided by planetary champion practices,” she said.