By Radarr Africa Business Desk
LAGOS, October 31 (Radarr Africa) – Italian energy group Eni has completed the sale of its Nigerian onshore business, Agip Energy and Natural Resources (Nigeria) Limited (AENR), and its 5% stake in the Renaissance joint venture to a subsidiary of Sterling Oil Exploration and Energy Production Company, Billionaires.Africa reported.
Eni announced completion of the transaction on October 26, 2026. The price was not disclosed. The buyer is Apex Global Energy Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sterling Oil, which the report said is owned by brothers Nitin and Chetan Sandesara.
Eni described Sterling as “one of Nigeria’s leading operators in the onshore sector,” according to the report. The company said the sale is part of a rebalancing of its portfolio and that it will remain in Nigeria through its deep offshore work and its stake in Nigeria LNG.
The Renaissance joint venture was formerly the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) joint venture. Shell sold its Nigerian onshore business to Renaissance Africa Energy Company, a group of local companies, in a $2.4 billion deal completed in March 2025. The state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) holds 55% of the venture, while Renaissance, the operator, holds 30%. The venture covers 18 licences in the Niger Delta.
The Eni sale follows another divestment in the same region. A day after Eni’s announcement, TotalEnergies completed the sale of its 10% interest in 15 mainly oil-producing licences to Vaaris for $800 million, Billionaires.Africa reported. TotalEnergies kept the economic benefit of three gas licences that supply half the gas for Nigeria LNG. Its share of output from the oil licences was about 16,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day in 2025.
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Eni had earlier sold its larger onshore unit, Nigerian Agip Oil Company, to Oando for about $783 million in 2024, the report said.
Sterling entered Nigeria in the 2005 licensing round and operates Oil Mining Lease 143 in Anambra State, where it developed the Okwuibome field. It has produced Okwuibome Blend, a low-sulphur crude, since 2011 and sells to buyers in Europe and Asia. The company says it has shipped more than 13 million barrels to Indian state-owned refiners so far this year.
Sterling describes itself as family-owned, debt-free and without public or institutional shareholders, the report said. It is also building 10 security vessels for the Nigerian Navy at its own shipyard in Delta State, and the first entered service in August.
The latest completions add to a run of onshore transfers in the Niger Delta. Shell’s onshore exit to Renaissance was completed in March 2025 for $2.4 billion, Eni sold Nigerian Agip Oil Company to Oando in 2024 for about $783 million, TotalEnergies completed its $800 million sale to Vaaris on the day after Eni’s announcement, and AENR and the 5% Renaissance stake have now passed to Sterling’s subsidiary.
The Billionaires.Africa report relied on Eni’s announcement and Sterling’s own statements for the deal details and did not cite independent sources for the terms. Radarr Africa has not independently confirmed the figures.
