Nigeria's upstream oil regulatory authority yesterday approved the sale of two major onshore assets by Eni and Norway's Equinor, after months of postponement.

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (Nuprc) gave the green light to the sale of Eni's local subsidiary, Nigerian Agip Oil Company (Naoc), to Oando. Green light also for the sale of the Equinor asset to new operator Project Odinmim, the agency's head, Gbenga Komolafe, announced yesterday.

The deals had been pending for months, as they required approval from the Minister of Petroleum under a recently enacted oil industry law.

Approval for the $1.3 billion asset sale of Exxon Mobil to Seplat and the sale of Shell to Renaissance are still pending.

"The signing ceremony will take place in the next few days," Komolafe said.

In September, Eni had already announced the sale of its Naoc subsidiary to Oando. The deal included interests in four Omls (Oil Mining Leases): 60, 61, 62 and 63.

According to a chart shown by Nuprc, of the four transactions in the oil sector to date, two have been approved, one has been yellow-flagged, and the other remains pending.

Oil majors operating in Nigeria have abandoned onshore fields, due to theft, vandalism and pollution, to focus on deepwater exploration.

In May, Nuprc offered quicker approvals for pending asset sales by the majors on the condition that they take responsibility for oil spills and compensate communities rather than waiting for liability to be established by authorities, which could lead to further delays in settlements.

(Translated by Chiara Scarciglia, editing Francesca Piscioneri)