After nearly 100 years of running Nigerian onshore oil and gas, Shell has decided to sell its subsidiary there for up to $2.4 billion to a group of five companies, mostly based in Nigeria.

The buyer is the Renaissance consortium, which includes ND Western, Aradel Energy, First E&P, Waltersmith, all local oil exploration and production companies, and Petrolin, a trading and investment company from Switzerland.

The sale, which Renaissance agreed to, needs the Nigerian government’s approval.

Shell was the first to start Nigeria’s oil and gas industry in the 1930s. But it faced many challenges with onshore oil spills caused by theft, sabotage and operational problems that resulted in expensive repairs and legal cases.

Shell has been looking to sell its Nigerian oil and gas business since 2021, but it will keep working in Nigeria’s offshore sector, which is more profitable and less troublesome.

Shell’s departure is part of a wider trend of western energy companies leaving Nigeria to focus on newer, more lucrative operations. Exxon Mobil, Eni from Italy and Equinor from Norway have also sold their assets in the country in the past few years.

Shell said in a statement that it will sell The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) for $1.3 billion, and the buyers will pay up to $1.1 billion more for previous debts at the end of the deal.

“Shell in Nigeria is reaching an important milestone with this agreement, as we have already announced our intention to leave onshore oil production in the Niger Delta. This will simplify our portfolio and allow us to invest more wisely in Nigeria’s Deepwater and Integrated Gas sectors,” said Zoë Yujnovich, Shell’s upstream leader.

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