• Faults report on N8.4trn oil theft

Sopuruchi Onwuka

Federal government has declared that the divestment of the 10 percent stake belonging to TotalEnergies in the joint venture operated  by Renaissance Africa Energy Company (RAEC) Limited would no longer progress following the inability of Chappal Energies to effectively close the deal.

Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) which manages government’s interests in the petroleum industry clarified that the highly publicized interest divestment and acquisition deal between TotalEnergies and Chappal Energies which first received a ministerial consent on October 28, 2024 has now been canceled.

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).

Oracle INtelligence reports that Shell has since divested its 30 percent operating interest in the joint to Renaissance Africa Energy Company (RAEC) Limited, while several overtures are currently ongoing by some indigenous independent companies to also mop up the five percent participating interest held by Italy’s Eni in the joint venture.

The NNPC Limited retains its 55 percent overriding interest in the joint veture and concessionaire of the operated assets on behalf of the federal government of Nigeria.

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

A statement from the nation’s upstream petroleum industry regulator explained that Chappal Energies failed to consummate the deal months after the approval, even after “extensions graciously granted by the Commission.”

“Based on this, the ministerial consent for the deal was withdrawn on May 29, 2025,” the commission stated.

“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,” it added.

The NUPRC affirms 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.

The development followed media enquiries after the NUPRC faulted a report published on September 24 by a national newspaper stating: ‘N8.41tn oil theft drains economy, fuels investors’ doubts.’

The commission stated that the report in question was based on a misinterpretation of crude loss statistics between 2021 and July 2025 “which had been released by the NUPRC in the spirit of transparency and in line with the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021.”

The commission had revealed on September 11, 2025 that daily crude oil losses had dropped to 9,600 barrels per day.

“The NUPRC was vindicated again when the latest figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that Nigeria’s economy grew by 4.23% largely on the back of an increased oil output and two other sectors an-acknowledgement of the steady progress made by the industry to combat the menace of crude oil theft,” it pointed out.

In reiterating points made in the production report, the NUPRC stated that crude oil losses have been on the downward trend due to collaborative efforts between the NUPRC, the Office of the National Security Adviser, the military, Operators and other relevant stakeholders.

“This collaboration through both kinetic and non-kinetic means, dropped oil theft from a staggering 102,900 in 2021 – when the Commission was established – to the current 9,600bopd representing over 90%reduction in losses.

“Also, in the misleading report, an exchange rate of N1,500/$1 is used from 2021 to 2025 to increase the figures and sensationalize actual losses when in actual fact, Nigeria’s exchange rate was less than N430 on the official market and barely N600/$1 on average between 2021 (when most of the crude theft occurred) and in mid-2023. The N8.41 trillion is therefore inaccurate. Attempting to situate it within the current 2025 federal budget is flawed.

“Furthermore, the methodology adopted by the Newspaper is significantly flawed because it lacks in-depth understanding of operations, crude oil price trends and exchange rate mechanisms

“Nigeria has continued to meet its OPEC quota due to the Commission’s initiatives and working collaboratively with industry stakeholders to sustain and grow productions. Such initiatives include: the project 1 million barrels, implementation of the metering audit, restoration of shut-in strings and increased rig counts, facility uptime, creation of alternative crude evacuation mechanism etc.

“Furthermore, Nigeria now has the technical capacity to produce above two million barrels daily. The Commission is galvanizing Industry stakeholders – Operators, service providers (local and international), rig owners, off-takers, and financiers –  in order to fully unlock the potential, riding on the improved operating environment and social inclusion in operating areas

“The story also fails the integrity test as no attempt was made by the reporter to get a clarification from the commission in the spirit of fairness and balanced reporting,” the commission’s media office countered in the statement.