Chevron Corp and Nigeria will sign the first oil production accord for Nigeria’s new deepsea oil blocks central to the country’s plan to boost crude oil ouput and reserves. The accord between Chevron and state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp (NNPC) will spell out how the two sides share profits from OPL250, the most sought after of the Nigerian blocks, which Chevron won during competitive bidding last year. Unlike previous joint venture accords between Nigeria and its foreign oil partners, oil companies will source for funds independently to develop deep water blocks. The signing follows agreement earlier this month by oil multinationals to increase the Nigerian government’s share of oil profits to 30 percent from 20 percent currently. Chevron will be operator of block 250, whose final bid price was $200 million, alongside Royal Dutch/Shell and Brazil’s Petrobras.
