President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria postponed his initial assent on Thursday after the oil regulator declined to agree to Exxon Mobil’s sale of local offshore shallow water assets to Seplat.
Buhari approved the $1.28 billion agreement on Monday, but the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission said it was against it without providing a justification.
Other large oil companies, like Shell and TotalEnergies, who have made plans to sell certain local holdings, are closely monitoring the sale.
“The president has made the decision to let the regulator carry out its duties. To put it simply, he is delaying acting upon his earlier consent for the time being in order to let the process finish “Reporters were informed by presidential spokesman Garba Shehu”.
In a statement, Seplat claimed that it had not been officially informed of Buhari’s about-face and that it was asking the authorities for more information.
Oil firms with operations in Nigeria want to stop operating in shallow water because of disturbances by the local population and instead concentrate on deep sea drilling.
