Marginal round raises local firms’ profile

摘要

Nigeria’s new licensing round for 31 marginal oil and gas fields aims to deepen upstream participation by indigenous oil companies, but oil trading firms will play a growing role through local partnerships. The 2013-14 round, the first to involve marginal fields since 2003, includes 16 onshore and 15 shallow-water blocks owned by state-owned NNPC and its joint-venture partners. The round comes as many of NNPC’s partners, including Shell, Total, Chevron, US independent Conoco-Phillips and Italy’s Eni, sell onshore and shallow-water assets because of security problems in the Niger delta and funding constraints at NNPC (WPA, 28 June, p7).