Total announces plans to exit Nigeria’s onshore assets

Total Energies SE has joined the league of foreign oil companies exiting the Nigerian oil market, after operating in the market for over 60 years as the French multinational announced plan to sell its minority stake in a Nigerian oil joint venture.

In a conference call monitored by Bloomberg, Total Energies’ Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne said its planning to offload its 10percent interest in a firm that holds 20 onshore and shallow water permits in the West African country.

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“Disruption of local communities are sources of great concerns” in the country, Pouyanne said on Thursday.

This development means Total Energies may join two foreign oil companies that have sold their assets and discontinued business in Nigeria. The first was UK-based Royal Dutch Shell in July 2021, just one month before the PIB was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Seven months after it was signed, another oil major, based in the United States, Exxon Mobil Corporation (ExxonMobil) joined Shell to quit the Nigerian oil market, by taking out its investment in Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited.