Chevron, ExxonMobil, Total consider Sale of Assets in Nigeria worth $6bn …As IOCs go on $27bn selling spree

-By Gideon Osaka

United States-based Chevron and Mobil, as well as France-owned Total are said to be considering a sale of assets in Nigeria which could be valued at up to $6 billion, Rystad Energy, an independent energy research and business company stated.

Chevron deal is valued at up to $2 billion, as it needs to raise capital for projects such as Tengiz in Kazakhstan, Contract 3 in Thailand, and its United States shale positions in the Permian Basin. Though the assets have not been disclosed. ExxonMobil deal is valued at $3 billion, while Total deal which involved the sale of oil mining lease, OML 118 is valued at $1 billion. This is coming at a time the international oil companies, IOCs are planning to sell assets that could fetch a total $27.5 billion, according to Rystad Energy’s latest assessment. These companies are actively shedding mature assets on a massive scale in a bid to finance higher-yielding investments elsewhere, with the added benefit of pleasing shareholders who are calling for stricter capital discipline. “The expected transactions mean some of the majors are poised to exit certain regions, giving regional players and independents a chance to buy into key fields and help keep them profitable through production-life extensions and new developments,” says Ranjan Saxena, an analyst on Rystad Energy’s upstream team. Rystad Energy has taken a closer look at some of the main assets currently up for sale. “While oil and gas majors increase their focus on core areas and divest mature assets and interests in geopolitically unstable regions, observers will be following closely to see how investors react and what other steps these energy giants will take to keep stakeholders interested amid rising climate concerns and geopolitical volatility,” Saxena added. Here are some highlights from Rystad Energy’s latest report: ExxonMobil plans to divest assets worth $15 billion by 2021 as it focuses on developing oilfields in Guyana and the United States Permian Basin, as well as gas projects in Mozambique and the US Gulf of Mexico. BP is looking to offload some of the US shale assets that lie outside of its core areas in order to help fund last year’s $10.5 billion purchase of BHP’s North America subsidiary. The British player put seven asset packages on the market, headlined by the gas-rich San Juan Basin acreage on the Colorado-New Mexico border. A sale could fetch between $1.6 billion and $2 billion for all the packages combined. Total plans to divest assets worth $5 billion by 2021. The company is seeking to sell one-third of its 16.8 percent stake in the giant Kashagan field in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea, thought likely to attract offers of between $3.2 billion and $4 billion. Shell plans to divest assets worth $10 billion by 2021 and is reportedly looking to exit the Abadi liquefied natural gas, LNG project in Indonesia, which could raise between $1 billion and $1.6 billion for the super major. ConocoPhillips has placed its entire 234,000-acre asset in the emerging Austin Chalk play of Louisiana on the market, about a year-and-a-half after the position was first unveiled. The valuation is expected to be below $1 billion.