Nigeria president Muhammadu Buhari has ordered government to reduce all shares in the country’s joint venture assets to 40 per cent in 2019, according to budget documents released on Tuesday.
International oil companies such as Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron and ExxonMobil are in JV agreement with Nigeria through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
NNPC owns 55 per cent stake in its joint venture with Shell and 60 per cent stakes with other joint venture companies.
The debt office in 2017 had announced the government’s plan to raise N710 billion ($2.32 billion) through restructuring its equity in joint venture oil assets, which reflected in the 2018 budget.
Recall last year, cash call payment for the development of joint venture oil and gas assets ate into the Federal Government’s revenue as a total of N1.829trillion was paid.
According to the NNPC, which represents the government in JVs, the government generated N3.11trillion from the sale of crude oil and gas in 2018, out of which N1.829trillion was transferred into the joint venture cash call account while the balance of N1.28trillion went into the Federation Account.
