Shell Petroleum B.V. signed an agreement to sell its full interest in the Shell Nigeria Gas Group, the company said. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The business supplies natural gas to industrial and commercial customers and has done so for more than 25 years, according to Elohor Aiboni, Shell’s country chair in Nigeria. She said the deal offers ‘a much stronger platform’ for the unit’s next phase under new ownership.
Shell said it will keep its focus on deepwater and integrated gas positions in Nigeria. The transaction is subject to regulatory conditions and approvals. Until it closes, the group will stay part of Shell and keep serving customers as usual.
What is being sold
Shell Nigeria Gas Limited was established in 1998. It runs about 170 kilometres of pipeline across Ogun, Abia and Rivers states and supplies more than 130 connected commercial and industrial customers. The company has no upstream gas production, no liquefied natural gas operations and no international gas trading.
The sale also covers Shell Nigeria Gas Holding B.V., set up in 2019, which owns all but one of the shares in the Nigerian operating company.
The buyer
Vaaris Energy is a Nigerian company with interests across the oil and gas value chain and an existing operational footprint in the country, Shell said. The company did not provide further details on the buyer’s plans for the pipeline network or its customers.
Strategy
Shell described the sale as consistent with its push to simplify its portfolio and concentrate investment where it holds competitive strengths. In Nigeria, that means deepwater production and integrated gas, including its stake in Nigeria LNG, the export plant on Bonny Island, the company said.
The agreement follows Shell’s earlier withdrawal from onshore oil production in the Niger Delta. Shell agreed in 2024 to sell its onshore subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, to a consortium of local companies, a deal that drew scrutiny from regulators and environmental groups before it closed.
Nigerian operators have taken over a growing share of assets that international oil companies have put up for sale in recent years. The government has encouraged the shift as part of a broader aim to deepen local participation in the energy sector. International majors have said they want to put capital into projects that deliver higher returns and carry less operational and security risk than aging onshore assets.
Domestic gas has been a policy priority in Nigeria, where authorities have promoted gas as a way to ease chronic power shortages and cut reliance on imported fuels. Industrial users in particular have long complained about unreliable supply.
Pipeline distribution networks like the one Shell is selling are a small but important piece of that effort, linking factories and commercial sites to gas produced elsewhere in the system.
Shell has been trimming its portfolio globally and has said it wants to put its money behind a narrower set of businesses. Nigeria remains one of its most important African markets through its deepwater and gas interests, even as it sheds smaller and more mature operations.
Completion of the sale will depend on the necessary regulatory approvals. Shell did not give a timeline for closing.