Shell plans to sell $5 billion worth of Nigerian oil fields: report

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Royal Dutch Shell PLC Sunday said it won’t comment on a report that it plans to sell oil fields in Nigeria valued at $5 billion as the country seeks to make oil reforms.

A report in the Sunday Times cited unnamed sources as saying the oil giant recently launched a formal sales process which is being overseen by Ann Pickard, head of Shell Nigeria.

A Shell spokesman declined to comment on the report.

The paper says Shell isn’t selling its offshore blocks, which are less vulnerable and have more generous royalty terms.

The auction comes as Nigeria prepares to impose harsher terms on foreign operators, the report says. The bill aims to change the fiscal regime by making upstream petroleum companies pay company income tax and Nigerian hydrocarbon tax. Companies have indicated the reforms could cost them billions of dollars.

Shell is also in the process of selling a number of European refineries.

MarketWatch