The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has issued an official clarification on the status of the TotalEnergies and Chappal Energies deal which first received a ministerial consent on October 28 last year.

The clarification has become imperative due to a series of media enquiries.

It would be recalled that the NUPRC had on October 28, 2024 conveyed a grant of ministerial consent to the transfer of TotalEnergies’ entire 10% participating interest in the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Joint Venture – excluding OMLs 23, 28 and 77 – to Telema Energies Nigeria Limited (owned by Chappal Energies).

Specifically, this divestment involved TotalEnergies’ 10 percent participating interest in Oil Mining Leases (OML) 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 43, 45, 46, 74, 77 and 79.

However, months after the approval, Chappal Energies failed to consummate the deal. This was despite extensions graciously granted by the Commission.
Based on this, the ministerial consent for the deal was withdrawn on May 29 this year.

Also, the withdrawal of a ministerial consent does not in any way rule out the possibility of a future divestment by the interested parties provided such an asset sale is in line with extant laws.

The NUPRC affirmed that in line with Section 6(h) of the Petroleum Industry Act, it remains committed to promoting an enabling environment for investments in upstream petroleum operations.