TotalEnergies has sold its 10% interest in a suite of Nigerian oil and gas production licences to Mauritius-based Chappal Energies for $860 million, the French energy firm said on Wednesday.

The 18 licenses are held in an unincorporated joint venture with operator Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (30%), the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Ltd (55%) and Nigerian Agip Oil Company (5%).

Chappal focuses on investments in deep value and distressed brownfield upstream assets in the Niger Delta region.

Fifteen of the licences produce mainly oil, with production representing 14,000 barrels of oil-equivalent per day in 2023 for Total's stake, the company said.

The remaining three licences, which produce natural gas, currently account for 40% of TotalEnergies' Nigeria LNG gas supply. Total said it has sold the participation stake to Chappal but will retain full economic interest.

"This divestment...allows us to focus our onshore Nigeria presence solely on the integrated gas value chain and is designed to ensure the continuity of feed gas supply to Nigeria LNG in the future," said Nicolas Terraz, president exploration & production, at TotalEnergies.

The transaction is expected to close by year-end, subject to regulatory approvals.

(Reporting by America Hernandez in Paris; editing by Jason Neely, Kirsten Donovan)