Nigeria oil enters unclear new era after Shell’s onshore asset sale

Shell's exit from Nigeria's onshore oil sector highlights risks oil majors face in Africa's biggest exporter but has raised hopes that local firms could reverse the output decline from the Niger Delta, industry officials and analysts said. Shell – which pioneered Nigeria's oil industry – is the most prominent Western company to exit the Delta, a region blighted by pollution, oil theft and pipeline vandalism. The company's sale of its subsidiary to five mostly local firms fits an ongoing trend of Western energy companies divesting onshore Nigerian oil fields.