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He did not say when the sale might go forward
or how much the French major expected to
collect from the transaction, nor did he reveal
whether any potential investors had expressed
interest in the stake.
But he did indicate that TotalEnergies’ deci-
sion to sell was at least partly motivated by con-
cerns about clashes with host communities in
southern Nigeria. Shell and SPDC’s other share-
holders have drawn a great deal of criticism for
environmental damage and oil spills result-
ing from their operations; they have also been
faulted for not investing enough in community SPDC controls 19 onshore fields in southern Nigeria (Image: Shell)
projects and revenue-sharing programmes.
“Disruption of local communities are sources Egina and other fields in Nigeria’s offshore zone,
of great concerns” in Nigeria, Pouyanné noted which is not subject to the same risk of conflict
during the conference call. with host communities. Most of the West Afri-
TotalEnergies will not be the first SPDC can state’s onshore and shallow-water offshore
shareholder to leave the joint venture. Shell oilfields are located in or near southern regions
(UK), the operator, has already solicited offers that have a long history of cultural, political and
for its 30% stake and is considering bids from economic conflict with the federal government.
four Nigerian entities. SPDC’s other two share- Other international oil companies (IOCs) are
holders, Italy’s Eni and Nigerian National Petro- also leaving the region; ExxonMobil (US), for
leum Corp. (NNPC), have not yet said whether example, agreed in February of this year to sell
they intend to keep their stakes. its stake in the Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlim-
The exit from SPDC is not expected to affect ited (MPNU) joint venture to Seplat Energy, a
TotalEnergies’ plans for investing in Bonga, Nigerian firm. ™

Sungara, Afentra reveal details of

acquisition of Sonangol stakes

ANGOLA AS Angola’s national oil company (NOC)
Sonangol continues to move forward with the
partial sale of its equity holdings in six offshore
blocks, two of the purchasers are revealing
details of the deals.

Sungara: Blocks 15/06, 23 and 27
One of those purchasers is Sungara Energies,
a consortium formed by the African multi-na-
tional Petrolog Group, UK-based Sequa Petro-
leum and National Petroleum Corp. of Namibia
(NAMCOR). Sequa said in a statement dated
April 28 that Sungara had struck an agreement
with a subsidiary of Sonangol on the acquisition
of a 10% stake in Block 15/06, a 35% stake in
Block 27 and a 40% stake in (and operatorship
of) Block 23.
The statement did not reveal the value of
each individual asset, but it did put the aggre-
gate value of the acquisitions at around $500mn,
including a contingent payment of $50mn. The
consortium will cover these costs “through a Afentra is taking stakes in Blocks 23 and 03/05 (Image: Afentra)
combination of equity contributions from each
of the Sungara partners and third-party debt,” As a shareholder in the Block 15/06 project,
it stated. Sequa also emphasised that the deals which is currently yielding about 100,000 barrels
would ensure the group’s access to producing per day of oil, Sungara will be entitled to about
upstream assets. 10,000 bpd of production, it explained.

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