Shell’s commitment totalling $9bn is testimony to confidence in Nigeria’s economy —Ojulari

PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the gazetting of targeted, investment-linked incentives to support the proposed Bonga South West deep-offshore oil project by Shell and its partners.

The President also directed the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Mrs. Olu Verheijen, to facilitate the gazette of the incentives in line with Nigeria’s existing legal and fiscal frameworks.

Sunday Dare, Special Adviser to the President, (Media & Public Communication) disclosed this in a statement on Thursday.

Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPCL, Bayo Ojulari, led the Shell delegation, which was headed by the Global Chief Executive Officer, Wael Sawan, to the meeting at State House.

Receiving the team, President Tinubu said the incentives are disciplined, targeted, and globally competitive, designed to attract new capital without undermining government revenues.

He said: “These incentives are not blanket concessions.

“They are ring-fenced and investment-linked, focused on new capital and incremental production, strong local content delivery, and in-country value addition.

“My expectation is clear: Bonga South West must reach a Final Investment Decision within the first term of this administration.”

President Tinubu emphasised that the project is strategic to Nigeria’s economy, with the potential to create thousands of direct and indirect jobs, generate significant foreign-exchange inflows, and deliver sustained government revenues over the life of the project. He added that the project would also deepen Nigerian participation in offshore engineering, fabrication, logistics, and energy services.

The President reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to policy stability, regulatory certainty, and speed, noting that these reforms are critical to restoring investor confidence and positioning Nigeria as a preferred destination for large-scale energy investment.

He further noted that Shell and its partners have invested nearly US$7 billion in Nigeria in the past 13 months, particularly in Bonga North and HI, describing this as a clear sign that Nigeria’s economic and energy-sector reforms are delivering results.

In his remarks, Mr. Sawan said Nigeria’s investment climate has improved remarkably under the Tinubu administration, adding that Shell is increasingly confident in Nigeria as a destination for long-term investment.

In a separate session with State House correspondents, the GCEO of NNPCL, Ojulari, disclosed that Shell’s commitment totalling about $9b is a testimony to internal oil companies’ confidence in the Nigerian economy under the present administration.

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He said:”Today, the Shell Group chairman, that’s for the whole Shell Group, not just in Nigeria, across the continent, visited Mr. President, actually for the first time and the idea was basically to come and thank Mr. President for the initiative on the executive orders that were released early last year to help to attract investments.

“As most of you know, following the Petroleum Industry Act,  we realized that there were additional incentives that were necessary to attract investment and the reason for that is that the competition for investment is global and most other countries, like other African countries, Guyana, the Far East, they’re changing their policies, very dynamic, so that they can attract those investments. “So one of the great things that Mr. President did was to actually announce those executive orders to put additional incentives to be able to attract investments.

“Having done that, Shell was then able to do three things over the last, I would say, one and a half years; one Shell was able to complete its transaction of the onshore JV assets that was, as most of you know, transferred to Renaissance. Completing that transaction showed to the world, Mr. President’s commitment to the ability for investors to bring in investments and also, if they needed to exit, to exit, because the investment world is very dynamic.

“I think that brought confidence to the international community, including Shell. “Having completed that divestment exercise,  Shell has then taken final investment decision of $5 billion for the development of Bonga North. “Subsequently, they took another investment decision last year for what we call a Shallow Water Feed, we call it HI, for gas development, another $2 billion.

So overall, between the time that Mr. President has announced that incentive, just one company, Shell alone, has already invested over $7 billion, so you can imagine what that means in terms of replication.

“I think what this has shown is that we’re seeing more confidence in Nigeria’s economy from investors. Mr. President also made commitment to continue to look at opportunities as they come and ensure that Nigeria’s investment environment, particularly in the oil and gas industry, as we know, remains dynamic.

Ojulari revealed that “Shell also made commitment to the President of pushing another $20 billion opportunities over the next couple of years. They indicated the ability to do this and the ability to pull in these resources. Remember everybody is competing for global capital, it’s because of the confidence that they have in the leadership that Mr. President has demonstrated, not just talked about, but in terms of what they can touch and feel around transparency and around commitment to the agenda of Mr. President.”