Eni, the Italian oil giant said that it has received approval from the Federal government to proceed with the proposed sale of Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) to Oando, managed by Wale Tinubu, President Bola Tinubu’s nephew.
According to a press release by the oil giant, “Eni has received formal consent from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) for the sale of NAOC Ltd to Oando Plc.”
The sale will allow Agip to concentrate on its offshore operations.
“Having already obtained all other relevant local and regulatory authorities’ authorisations, this achievement will allow Eni to proceed to the completion of the transaction for the sale of Nigerian Agip Oil Company Ltd (NAOC Ltd), Eni’s wholly owned subsidiary focusing on onshore oil & gas exploration and production as well as power generation in Nigeria, to Oando PLC, Nigeria’s leading national energy solutions provider,” the statement added.
Explaining further, Eni said, “NAOC Limited’s participating interest in SPDC JV (Shell Production Development Company Joint Venture – operator Shell 30 per cent, TotalEnergies 10 per cent, NAOC 5 per cent, NNPC 55 per cent) is not included in the perimeter of the transaction and will be retained in Eni’s portfolio.”
Prior to the sale the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) was not comfortable with the deal, contending that Eni does not have the approval to sell the oil entity.
It was learnt that the NNPCL backed down when it learnt that the Presidency has interest in the business deal.
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