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UPDATE 2-Nigeria's Rivers state says it bought Shell stake in Ogoniland oilfield

Published 30/09/2019, 21:40
UPDATE 2-Nigeria's Rivers state says it bought Shell stake in Ogoniland oilfield
SHEL
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(Adds statement from Shell and DPR)
PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria, Sept 30 (Reuters) - The governor of
Nigeria's Rivers state said on Monday it had purchased Royal
Dutch Shell's RDSa.L stake in a contested oil mining licence
in the Ogoniland region, the centre of protests in the 1990s
over the distribution of oil wealth.
Governor Nyesom Wike told a news conference that Rivers had
"fully acquired" the stake in OML 11 from Shell. He said the
block had been undeveloped for nearly 25 years since the
execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa, a prominent writer who was among
nine protest leaders executed in 1995 by the then military
government of Sani Abacha.
Shell, whose Nigerian subsidiary Shell Petroleum Development
Company (SPDC) jointly owns the licence with the Nigerian
National Petroleum Company, declined to confirm or deny the
sale.
"The announcement by the Rivers state government is in
respect of the assets of SPDC which form part of a matter that
is pending in court, for which reason we are unable to make
further comment," it said in a statement.
The Department of Petroleum Resources, the government
department that would approve any transfer of an oil licence,
said it was not aware of any sale of OML 11.
There are various legal cases involving SPDC and community
representatives in Ogoniland, including efforts by some to seize
SPDC assets to cover debts related to oil spills.
Industry sources have said the field is among several
onshore assets that Shell has been trying to sell in Nigeria.
Wike said Rivers state had bid $150 million for the 45%
stake in the asset.
The governor's statement said OML 11 had the potential to
produce 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil. Nigeria currently
produces roughly 2 million bpd of crude oil and condensates.

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