KEY POINTS
- VAARIS is the buyer in TotalEnergies’ sale.
- Nigerian billionaires couldn’t close the deal on the sale.
- The deal includes 18 oil mining leases in the Niger Delta.
After more than a year of discussions, reversals, and unsuccessful bids, an unexpected winner has emerged in the hotly waged battle for one of Nigeria’s most sought-after oil and gas assets. This has locked out several of the country’s most important financiers.
The Africa Oil and Gas Report says that TotalEnergies EP Nigeria has inked a sale and purchase agreement with VAARIS Resources JV Co. Ltd for its 10 percent ownership in the Renaissance Africa, NNPC, ENI, Total joint venture. The deal ends a process of selling off assets that at different points seemed to be going to some of Africa’s richest investors.
Instead, VAARIS, a group of Nigerian operators and oilfield service companies that isn’t very well known, got the asset. This included TotalEnergies’ stakes in 18 oil mining leases in the Niger Delta, both onshore and in shallow sea. In 2025, the assets made roughly 16,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day for TotalEnergies.
The deal also includes the transfer of rights and responsibilities for three licenses that mostly produce gas and give Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas feedstock. However, TotalEnergies will still have full commercial stake in those gas licenses.
The closing of TotalEnergies’ sale ended a crowded bidding war
VAARIS is made up of three oilfield service firms and three Nigerian marginal field operators. Tein George, the group’s chairman, signed the sale and purchase agreement on behalf of the group.
The result is just as important for the bidders who didn’t win as it is for the winner. Chappal Energies, which is domiciled in Mauritius and owned by Ufoma Immanuel, looked like it might be able to buy the stake early on. In 2024, the company got regulatory approval for a deal worth around $860 million. The purchase fell through because the buyer didn’t match the finance and regulatory requirements. This forced the authorities to take back their approval and start the process over.
By the middle of 2025, South Atlantic Petroleum Ltd., owned by retired General Theophilus Danjuma, had become a top candidate, and the industry expected a quick close.
The sale of TotalEnergies shows how the sector is changing
When a well-known group of investors led by Bayo Ogunlesi, CEO of Global Infrastructure Partners, teamed up with Hakeem Belo-Osagie of Metis Capital, the momentum changed again. The two wrote to TotalEnergies to explain their financial situation and visited with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in September 2025 to get more support from the government.
Even though they had money and political connections, the bid lost steam between October and December and didn’t close. VAARIS, which kept involved after finishing as the backup bidder in the Chappal process, stepped in. TotalEnergies signed the deal by the middle of January 2026.
The Renaissance joint venture is still one of Nigeria’s most important enterprises on land and in shallow water. NNPC owns 55 percent of it, Renaissance Africa Energy Company owns 30 percent, and ENI owns 5 percent. Regulatory clearances are still not in place.
According to Billionaires Africa, the outcome shows that things are changing in Nigeria’s upstream sector. Financial might and elite access are no longer enough to assure success, and locally constituted consortia are becoming more and more resilient.
