A consortium of the Swiss trader Vitol (50%), Africa Oil Corporation (25%) and Delonex Energy (25%) has signed an agreement with Petrobras' subsidiary Petrobras International Braspetro for the acquisition of its 50% stake in Petrobras Oil & Gas B.V. (POGBV) for US$1.4bn. BTG Pactual E&P will continue to hold its 50% stake in POGBV. The closing of the transaction is subject to securing the required approvals by the relevant Nigerian authorities.
POGBV holds an indirect 8% interest in Nigeria's oil mining lease (OML) 127, which contains the producing Agbami Field operated by subsidiaries of Chevron, and an indirect 16% interest in OML 130 operated by affiliates of Total and containing the Akpo and Egina fields. Egina is expected to start production by the end of 2018 while Agbami and Akpo fields began production in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Their combined gross production rate reached 368,000 bbl/d in 2017, of which about 21,000 boe/d for Petrobras. It is anticipated to increase to over 568,000 bbl/d by the second half of 2019.