Chevron's oil interests in Nigeria for sale

Chevron announced Tuesday it was selling its interest in two Nigerian oil blocks. This will make the company become the latest multinational to disconnect with assets in Africa’s biggest crude oil producer. Chevron has been Nigeria’s third-biggest oil producer, after Shell and Exxon, with daily output at 238,000 barrels of crude per day in 2012. It will continue to have a major presence in Nigeria.

The move will see Chevron sell its 40-percent stakes in oil mining leases 83 and 85 located in shallow water off Bayelsa State in the Niger Delta region.The blocks contain the Madu and Anyala fields and are owned through a joint venture with NNPC.

 It has been reported that the blocks contain reserves of some 250 million barrels of oil even as Chevron 

declined to provide information on reserves. Nigeria has been producing about 2.0 million barrels of oil per day.

The move marks the latest sale of Nigerian assets by a multi-national company and comes amid uncertainty in the country’s oil industry, with a sweeping overhaul of regulations, royalties and taxes delayed for years and still stuck in parliament.

Shell has been seeking to sell off its stakes in several onshore blocks, and analysts say the British-Dutch firm appears willing to shift more of its focus offshore, where the risks of sabotage, theft and militant attacks are lower. Last November, France's Total announced the sale of its 20-percent stake in a Nigerian offshore bloc to China’s Sinopec for $2.5 billion. In December, Nigerian firm Oando announced the purchase of ConocoPhillips’ interests in the country.