Nigeria has regained its position as the biggest recipient of payments from Shell as production entitlement, royalties, taxes and fees to the government in 2023 amounted to $4.92 billion, the highest in four years.
According to the new data released by Shell, the payout to Nigeria increased by 8.85% compared to the previous year, representing 16.67% of the company’s total payments to 26 countries.
Nigeira lost the top position in 2021, when Norway received the largest amount of about $4.52 billion compared to the $4.48 billion paid to the West African country.
In 2022, Nigeria dropped further to the third-biggest recipient of payments from the British oil giant, although the amount paid to it rose by 0.92% to $4.52 billion.
The company’s payment to the country hit a high of $6.39 billion in 2018 but fell to $5.63 billion in 2019 and $3.24 billion in 2020.
Shell subsidiaries in Nigeria paid $3.46 billion to the NNPC last year as production entitlement, while $587.64 million was paid in taxes to the Federal Inland Revenue Service.
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) was paid about $727.85 million and $1.73 million for royalties and fees respectively, while $139.99 million was remitted to the Niger Delta Development Commission.
Shell paid fees amounting to $4.28 million and $85,890 to the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure and Nigeria Police Trust Fund respectively.
Shell’s payments to the Nigerian government look set to drop this year following its decision to sell its onshore business in the country.
The company announced on January 16 that it had agreed to sell its Nigerian onshore subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), to Renaissance, a consortium of five companies consisting of ND Western, Aradel Energy, First E&P, Waltersmith and Petrolin.
