Nigeria and San Tome agree US oil exploration blocks

Africa’s largest oil producer - and a neighbor that has never produced even one barrel of oil - have jointly given five deep-water exploration licenses to US oil companies.

Nigeria and its neighboring island state of Sao Tome have been trying for five years to establish a Joint Development Zone (JDZ) after a long maritime dispute between the two nations.

Sao Tome is a tiny, impoverished, politically volatile island nation with a population of 170,000.

The awarded blocks will be developed over the next seven years and are located in the Gulf of Guinea. They hold an estimated billions of barrels of oil. The US is expected to satisfy a quarter of its oil needs from this area within the next 10 years.

US companies awarded rights in the area include a group led by ChevronTexaco, Devon, Pioneer, Anadarko, and Noble.

Nigerian companies Filtim Huzod, Conoil, Hercules, and Dangote Energy Equity Resources also received stakes in some of the awarded blocks, and due to preexisting rights, US-based Environmental Remediations Holding Co (ERHO), controlled by a Nigerian businessman, secured stakes in all awarded blocks.

Three more blocks will be awarded at a later date.

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