Shell not leaving Nigeria – Managing Director

Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) on Tuesday said it is not leaving Nigeria but only shifting its portfolio and further investments to deep offshore.

Managing Director of the Shell Petroleum Development Company and Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria, Osagie Okunbor, disclosed this at the 30th edition of the Nigerian Economic Summit.

Speaking during a high-level panel session titled ‘Fuelling growth: The Future of Oil and Gas’ on Tuesday, Mr Okunbor explained that the company is concentrating more on the deepwater where it has significant technological and financial advantage.

“Shell has been in Nigeria for a long time. We are not going away; we are rebalancing our portfolio from the onshore while we focus on and invest much more in our deepwater operations. I repeat Shell is not leaving Nigeria. We are not going anywhere and we will be together for a long time.

“Our onshore assets shares are being divested to a consortium of four companies which had gone through a rigorous selection process,” Mr Okunbor said.

He added that the company is investing more money in Nigeria with a single project in the deep offshore costing as much as $5 billion.

“Let us not go away from here with the thought that our industry is in decline, it is not. I make bold to say that since the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), and the supporting regulations, we are actually in a much better place.

“The Presidential directives that have come out are providing the degree of coherence that we hadn’t seen in a long time in the industry,” he added.

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Shell holds stakes in 19 oil mining leases in Nigeria, where it has been operating since the 1930s.

In January, the Nigerian unit of London-based oil supermajor Shell Plc struck a deal with a consortium of five companies, setting the scene for the latter to acquire its onshore business in the country.

The deal was sealed after years-long setbacks met by the company in its efforts to rid itself of the assets.

The deal is a relief for Shell, which has sought to offload the assets since 2021 because running them has been complicated by sabotage, theft and spills, some of which have sparked litigations and environmental liabilities.