NIGERIAN BILLIONAIRE, PRINCE ARTHUR EZE, HAS SOLD HIS COMPANY’S OIL BLOCK TO BRAZIL’S NATIONAL OIL FORM

Nigerian billionaire Prince Arthur Eze’s company, Oranto Petroleum (part of the  in offshore Block 3 in São Tomé and Príncipe to Brazil’s state-owned oil major, Petrobras. The deal was announced on April 17, 2026, and is subject to standard governmental and regulatory approvals in São Tomé and Príncipe. No financial terms (such as sale price or carried interests) have been publicly disclosed.

Oranto Petroleum held 90% working interest and was the operator. The National Petroleum Agency of São Tomé and Príncipe (ANP-STP) held the remaining 10% (non-operating).
Post-deal ownership (upon completion): Petrobras will become operator with 75%, Oranto will retain 15%, and ANP-STP will keep its 10%.
This is a classic farm-down: Oranto, an indigenous explorer, cedes operatorship and majority control to a major international player while keeping a minority stake to benefit from any future production or upside.

Petrobras described the move in its official statement as one that “strengthens exploratory activities on the African continent, with the purpose of portfolio diversification, and is aligned with the company’s long-term strategy, aiming to replenish oil and gas reserves through exploration of new frontiers and partnership operations.”

Prince Arthur Eze is a prominent Nigerian billionaire and one of Africa’s most active private oil concession holders. In the early 1990s, he founded both Atlas Petroleum International and Oranto Petroleum, which together form the Atlas Oranto Group. The group is positioned as one of the continent’s largest indigenous exploration and production (E&P) companies by acreage, with licences across more than 20 African countries (reports vary between 11–22 countries depending on the source) plus recent expansion into Venezuela.

Oranto’s business model has long involved early entry into frontier acreage, leveraging political and local relationships, then partnering with or farming down to larger operators that can fund capital-intensive drilling. Eze has executed similar deals before, including a profitable sale of Liberian blocks to Chevron years ago and recent $800 million-scale investment commitments in four new Liberian offshore blocks in 2025–2026.