TotalEnergies is considering to sell its share in a major Nigerian onshore oil joint venture, CEO Patrick Pouyanne said Thursday at the company’s annual results presentation.
The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, in which TotalEnergies (TTE) owns a 10% stake, has struggled for years with oil spills as a result of theft, sabotage and operational difficulties that have led to costly repairs and multiple lawsuits.
“Fundamentally, it’s because producing this oil in the Niger delta is not in line with our [Health, Security and Environmental] policies, it’s a real difficulty,” the CEO said, according to Reuters.
TotalEnergies (TTE) is the latest international oil company seeking to exit Nigeria’s onshore sector after decades of operations, after Shell recently said it had agreed to sell its 30% stake in SPDC to a consortium of five companies for up to $2.4B.
But the French company remains a major operator of offshore fields in Nigeria; earlier this week, it announced the start-up of the offshore Akpo West oilfield.