Nigeria Leads Shell’s Payments to Governments, Receiving Record $4.92 Billion in 2023

In 2023, Nigeria emerged as the top recipient of payments from Shell, receiving the highest payments in the form of production entitlements, royalties, taxes, and fees amounting to $4.92 billion, marking the highest figure recorded in four years.

Shell’s total payments to governments across 27 countries in 2023 amounted to $29.51 billion. Following Nigeria, Oman and Norway ranked as the second and third highest recipients, receiving payments of $4.09 billion and $3.81 billion, respectively.

Nigeria’s payout from Shell increased by 8.85 percent compared to the previous year, representing 16.67 percent of the company’s total payments to 26 countries, according to new data released by Shell. Nigeria lost its top position in 2021 to Norway, but regained it in 2023 with the highest payment.

Although Nigeria dropped to the third-biggest recipient in 2022, the amount paid to it rose by 0.92 percent to $4.52 billion. Shell’s payments to Nigeria peaked at $6.39 billion in 2018, declining to $5.63 billion in 2019 and $3.24 billion in 2020.

Shell’s payments to countries with operations declined by 14.11 percent year-on-year to $29.52 billion in 2023, as its annual profit dropped by 30 percent compared to its highest-ever earnings of $39.9 billion in 2022.

In Nigeria, Shell’s subsidiaries paid $3.46 billion to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) as production entitlements, $587.64 million in taxes to the Federal Inland Revenue Service, and approximately $727.85 million to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).

Royalties and fees amounted to $1.73 million, with $139.99 million remitted to the Niger Delta Development Commission. Additionally, $4.28 million was paid to the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure and $85,890 to the Nigeria Police Trust Fund.

Despite selling its onshore oil business in the Niger Delta for $2.4 billion earlier this year, Shell intends to maintain its presence in Africa’s largest market.