Nigeria signs oil deals with international companies

by The Associated Press

Nigeria has signed deals with three international companies — Exxon Mobil Corp., ConocoPhillips and ChevronTexaco — to develop two major offshore oil fields, Nigerian officials said.

One of the joint-operating agreements signed May 20 gives a controlling 55 percent stake of the first field to ExxonMobil with unspecified minority stakes going to ChevronTexaco and the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., the state firm said in a statement.

The second deal gives ConocoPhillips a 50 percent stake of the other bloc while ChevronTexaco receives a 30 percent stake and Nigeria National Petroleum gains a 20 percent stake.

In recent years, foreign oil companies in Nigeria have sought to take their operations offshore in a bid to avert the frequent armed hostage-takings, sabotage and other violent attacks by community activists and thugs that have plagued the oil-rich, but impoverished Niger Delta country.

Nigeria is the world’s sixth-largest oil exporter and accounts for 10 percent of U.S. imports.