Nigeria’s high-cost oil industry is in decline

Achief economist at Shell once described Nigeria as the “jewel in the crown” of the oil major’s empire. Yet in recent years the jewel has lost its lustre. Early this year Shell, which has been pumping oil in Nigeria for nearly seven decades, agreed to sell its onshore subsidiary to a consortium of mostly local companies.Other oil firms are packing up too. In February TotalEnergies, a French group, said it also planned to offload its own stake in Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary. It joined a long list of firms, including Chevron, ExxonMobil, Eni and Equinor that have shed Nigerian assets in the past couple of years (Exxon’s deal is yet to receive regulatory approval). If Shell’s divestment is finalised, domestic companies will own more oil licences than foreign groups for the first time in Nigeria’s history.