Brace yourself for a new wave of Nigerian M&A

There was recent excitement after reports that ExxonMobil will divest upstream assets in Nigeria, Chad and Equatorial Guinea This is part of its global plan to divest US$15 billion of assets by 2021. In Nigeria, this could include its portfolio of undeveloped fields across the JV. These are small to medium-sized fields that the company is unlikely to develop due to marginal economics and/or a shortage of partner funding. But these are not the only majors likely to be selling in 2019. Nigeria has more M&A to offer, with further divestments from the Shell JV portfolio likely on the back of 20 year licence renewals which are due in June, and Chevron could also be an active seller. We assess the opportunities as well as who might be the likely buyers.