Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has said he plans to approve the sale of oil and gas assets by Exxon Mobil to domestic energy supplier Seplat Energy.
“The sale will receive cabinet approval within the next few days,” Tinubu said in a speech on Tuesday to mark West Africa’s Independence Day. The move “will increase oil and gas production and have a positive impact on the economy,” he said.
Africa’s largest oil producer has consistently missed OPEC’s targets due to years of underinvestment in the oil industry, a key driver of economic growth and government revenue. The country produced 1.48 million barrels of oil per day in August, compared to OPEC’s quota of 1.5 million barrels, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Last week, Nigeria’s Vice President Kassim Shettima said Exxon was considering investing up to $10 billion in the country’s offshore oil industry over the next few years. Seplat has previously said that acquiring Exxon’s assets would nearly quadruple its oil production to more than 130,000 barrels per day.
If approved, the asset sale to Seplat would end a more than two-year hiatus that delayed the completion of the $1.3 billion deal. In June, Nigeria’s national oil company withdrew a legal challenge to block the deal.
“Our administration is committed to free enterprise, free entry and free exit for investment while upholding the sanctity and effectiveness of the regulatory process,” Tinubu said.
The President said the economic reforms implemented by the government since taking office in May 2023 have resulted in foreign direct investment in the country exceeding $30 billion. The policy review has been welcomed by foreign investors but has triggered a cost of living crisis and deadly protests in Africa’s most populous country.
Other highlights of Mr. Tinubu’s speech:
Since June 2023, the more disciplined approach adopted by the central bank to monetary policy management has ensured stability and predictability in the foreign exchange market. In the past 16 months, Nigeria’s debt service ratio has fallen from 97% to 68% and foreign exchange reserves have increased from $33 billion to $37 billion. Progress has been made in eradicating the scourge of banditry, kidnapping for ransom and all forms of violent extremism in northern Nigeria. The Economic Stabilization Bill approved by the Federal Executive Committee, if enacted, will improve Nigeria’s business environment, stimulate investment and reduce tax burden.
Comments are made by readers and comments contained herein do not reflect the views or opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate, or offensive comments will be deleted.
Details about this author
bloomberg
Element var scriptTag = document.createElement(‘script’); scriptTag.src = URL; scriptTag.async = true; scriptTag.onload = implementation code; scriptTag.onreadystatechange = implementation code; location.appendChild(scriptTag); }; var div = document.getElementById(‘rigzonelogo’); div.innerHTML += ” + ” + ”; var initJobSearch = function () { //console.log(“Callback”); } var addMetaPixel = function () { if (-1 > -1 || -1 > -1) { /*Meta pixel code*/ !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s) {if (f.fbq)return; n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)}; if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n. push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′; n.queue=();t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s= b.getElementsByTagName(e)(0); s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’, ‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’); fbq (‘Initialize’, ‘1517407191885185’); fbq(‘Track’, ‘Pageview’); /*End Meta Pixel Code*/ } else if (0 > -1 && 92 > -1) { /*Meta Pixel code*/ !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s) {if( f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply( n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)}; if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′; n .queue=();t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)(0); s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s) }(window, document,’script’, ‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’); fbq(‘initialize’, ‘1517407191885185’); fbq(‘track’, ‘page view ‘); /*End meta pixel code*/ } } // function gtmFunctionForLayout() // { //loadJS(“https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-K6ZDLWV6VX”, initJobSearch , document.body ); //} // window.onload = (e => { // setTimeout( // function () { // document.addEventListener(“DOMContentLoaded”, function () { // // class ‘ Select all anchor elements with ui-tabs-anchor’ // const anchor = document.querySelectorAll(‘a .ui-tabs-anchor’); // // Loop through each anchor and select ‘presentation’ anchor // Remove the role attribute if it is set to . forEach(anchor => { // if (anchor.getAttribute(‘role’) === ‘Presentation’) { //anchor.removeAttribute(‘role’); // } // }); // } // , 200);
Source link
