Shell in talks with FG to divest onshore oil stakes

ROYAL Dutch Shell has affirmed that it has contacted the Federal Government about divesting its onshore holding through its onshore joint venture SPDC, citing increased oil spills it has experienced in the Niger Delta region through pipeline sabotage and other issues related to onshore operations.

The Chief Executive Officer, Ben van Beurden, made the disclosure on Tuesday, at the Company’s annual meeting, as reported by Reuters.

He said: “We cannot solve community problems in the Niger Delta, that’s for the Nigerian Government perhaps to solve. We can do our best, but at some point in time, we also have to conclude that this is an exposure that doesn’t fit with our risk appetite anymore.”

“We’ve drawn that conclusion, and we’re now talking to the Nigerian government on the way forward.”

The State Minister of Petroleum, Minister Timipre Sylva, confirmed that the federal government was in talks with Shell on how to divesting its onshore stakes.

Sylva said in a statement that the considerations are on transferring the stakes to SPDC or to another local company or selling it to a foreign company.

Recall that in February, a Dutch court held Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary responsible for multiple oil pipeline leaks in the Niger Delta and ordered it to pay unspecified damages to farmers, which made van Beurden to call the company’s onshore assets in Nigeria a “headache”.