Minister, commission flex muscle over acquisition of Exxonmobil shares by Seplat

THERE was confusion on Monday over the sale of ExxonMobil shares to Seplat as both the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) made different claims over who had the right to approve the acquisition. 

Early in the day, Seplat announced that it had received a letter from the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources notifying it that President Muhammadu Buhari had approved that Ministerial Consent be granted to Seplat Energy Offshore Limited’s (a Seplat Energy subsidiary) cash acquisition of the entire share capital of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU) from its shareholders, Mobil Development Nigeria Inc (MDNI) and Mobil Exploration Nigeria Inc (MENI), being entities of Exxon Mobil Corporation registered in Delaware, USA (“ExxonMobil”). 

Seplat had also stated that the approval was given by President Buhari in his capacity as the Minister of Petroleum Resources, and with the granting of ministerial consent pursuant to the powers of the minister under Paragraphs 14-16 of the First Schedule of the Petroleum Act, 1969, separate announcement from the State House was released earlier. 

It added that in the letter, the President directed that the HMSPR to convey ministerial consent to all relevant parties, including but not limited to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (“NUPRC”), the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (“NNPC”), the ExxonMobil companies, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (“FCCPC”), and Seplat Energy/Seplat Energy Offshore Limited. But later in the day, NUPRC said that the status quo remained in respect of the ExxonMobil/Seplat Energy share acquisition. 

ALSO READ FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

• How To Detect Fake Bank Alerts

• We Never Had It This Bad In Nigeria, Says Sanusi

• 6 Handworks That Do Not Lose Relevance In Nigeria You Should Learn

The agency, in a statement signed by its Chief Executive, Gbenga Komolafe, said that “the Commission (NURPC) in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 is the sole regulator in dealing with such matters in the Nigerian upstream sector.” 

The statement added, “As it were, the issue at stake is purely a regulatory matter and the Commission had earlier communicated the decline of ministerial assent to ExxonMobil in this regard. As such the Commission further affirms that the status quo remains. 

“The Commission is committed to ensuring a predictable and conducive regulatory environment at all times in the Nigerian upstream sector.”