Chevron Corp. said Friday that it has agreed to sell its downstream business in Nigeria to an African consortium for an undisclosed amount. The transaction includes a lubricant blending plant in Lagos, Nigeria.
Under terms of the proposed agreement, Chevron subsidiary Chevron Africa Holdings Ltd. will sell Chevron Nigeria Holdings Ltd., a Bermuda company, to Corlay Global S.A., a Panamanian company co-owned by M.R.S. Holdings Ltd. and Petroci Holdings. Chevron Nigeria Holdings owns 60 percent of the stock in Chevron Oil Nigeria PLC, which operates downstream operations including a chain of more than 400 gas stations operating under the Texaco brand.
M.R.S. Holdings is part of M.R.S. Group, a private Lagos-based company with interests in the supply and trading of petroleum products and in shipping. Petroci, formally known as Socit nationale doprations ptrolires de la Cte dIvoire, is the national oil company of Ivory Coast.
The sale requires approval by Bermuda authorities, but Chevron said it expects the deal to close soon.
Chevron said the sale is part of its ongoing effort to concentrate downstream resources on strategic global assets.
We are increasing efficiency and improving returns by shrinking our marketing footprint to better align with our refining operations, said Mike Wirth, executive vice president of global downstream for Chevron Corp.
Chevron is keeping its oil exploration and production operations in Nigeria. On Monday it announced a separate deal to sell downstream operations in five West African nations – Benin, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Cte d’Ivoire and Togo. Corlay is also the purchaser in that transaction.