Shell PLC said Thursday it had completed the divestment of its Niger Delta subsidiary to a Nigerian consortium, in a $1.3 billion transaction previously held back by regulators.

Renaissance Africa Energy Holdings has taken over Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd. (SPDC) and consequently now owns a 30 percent operating stake in the SPDC Joint Venture (JV).

The SPDC JV holds 15 onshore oil mining leases (OMLs) and three shallow-water OMLs that have been plagued by oil spills, most of which the British energy giant has blamed on oil theft and sabotage.

Nigerian National Petroleum Co. Ltd. is the majority owner of the SPDC JV holding 55 percent. TotalEnergies SE owns 10 percent but has entered into a deal to divest this to Chappal Energies Mauritius Ltd. for $860 million. Eni SpA owns the remaining five percent, previously held via Nigerian Agip Oil Co. Ltd. (NAOC). The Italian state-controlled company sold NAOC to local player Oando PLC for nearly $800 million last year but has decided to retain its SPDC JV stake.

“The divestment of SPDC aligns with Shell’s intent to simplify its presence in Nigeria through an exit of onshore oil production in the Niger Delta and a focus of future disciplined investment in its Deepwater and Integrated Gas positions”, Shell said in an online statement Thursday.

Eni and TotalEnergies also said their divestments allow them to focus on offshore assets in the West African country.

“No significant impairments are expected as a result of completion of the transaction”, Shell added.

The transaction, announced January 16, 2024, had been held back by regulators over concerns about the ability of the prospective new owners to manage the assets, including their associated environmental liabilities.

“For the independents who are coming in onshore, we want to make sure that they align with our objectives of rapidly growing production”, Olu Verheijen, President Bola Tinubu’s special adviser on energy, was quoted as saying in a Bloomberg report October 30, 2024, speaking of issues about Shell’s exit. “They need to ensure that there is a technical and financial capacity and that some of the obligations that need to be addressed are being addressed”.

On April 29, 2024, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission announced plans to assess environmental liabilities before it could allow Shell to complete the divestment.

In its announcement of the divestment agreement with Renaissance, Shell said, “The transaction has been designed to preserve the full range of SPDC's operating capabilities following the change of ownership”.

“This includes the technical expertise, management systems and processes that SPDC implements on behalf of all the companies in the SPDC Joint Venture”, Shell added.

Nigeria has seen a spate of divestments by international energy majors. Norway’s majority state-owned Equinor ASA said December 6, 2024, it had exited Nigeria after the completion of a $1.2 billion sale that included a 20.21 percent stake in the Agbami oil field. Seplat Energy PLC announced December 12, 2024, it had completed the acquisition of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited from Exxon Mobil Corp.

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