By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has won a court decision that will temporarily block Exxon Mobil Corporation from selling its assets in the country to Seplat Energy Plc.
According to the company (Seplat) in a statement earlier this week, a judge in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, granted the NNPC an “order of interim injunction” on July 6 barring Exxon “from completing any divestment” in a unit that ultimately operates four licenses in the country.
Seplat, based in Lagos, agreed to acquire the US oil major’s subsidiary for at least $1.28 billion in February.
The NNPC wishes to block the transaction and to take over the permits themselves.
The company sued Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited on July 5, asking the Abuja High Court either to order that a dispute had occurred between the parties over preemption rights, or to order them to take the matter to arbitration, according to Seplat’s statement.
Seplat, which is not a party to the lawsuit, said its deal with Exxon is “still valid” and “remains confident that the matter will be brought to a proper conclusion in accordance with the law.”
The acquisition would give Seplat additional production of about 95,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day from shallow-water assets that Exxon operates in a joint venture with the NNPC.
For more than a decade, international oil companies active in Nigeria have been offloading large parts of their portfolio in the country to domestic players, a trend that has recently accelerated.
This is coming after another order from a Nigerian court forced Shell Plc to pause its plans to sell all of its remaining onshore permits in the country.
Business Post in March reported that a panel of three judges said Shell, acting through its agents or subsidiaries was restrained from “selling, allocating, vandalising or disposing of any of its assets/properties …” pending an appeal.
