Shell Plc has pledged to invest $6 billion in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, according to a statement from the Nigerian presidency.
The investment will be split between a $5 billion offshore oil project and an additional $1 billion over the next five to ten years to boost natural gas production for both domestic use and export.
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The announcement comes after a meeting between Nigerian President Bola Tinubu and Zoe Yujnovich, Shell’s director of gas and upstream operations.
President Tinubu has been actively courting foreign investment to boost the country’s energy sector, which is a major source of revenue for the government.
Yujnovich was cited as saying Shell has “an imminent $5 billion investment opportunity” in the offshore Bonga North oil project.
“I am really keen to make that investment as soon as possible. We want to continue and build a pipeline of new investments in Nigeria,” Yujnovich said.
A Shell spokesperson confirmed talks with the Nigerian president but declined to give further details because the discussions were private.
Nigeria’s oil output has been in decline for years, hobbled by large-scale theft and sabotage. It has picked up in recent months, helped by offshore production that is less prone to attacks.
Tinubu pledged to resolve “all investment-related issues” slowing the flow of capital into Nigeria’s energy industry.
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“There is no bottleneck that is too difficult for us to remove in our determined march toward making Nigeria the African haven for large-scale investments,” Tinubu was quoted as saying.
