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Nigeria oil auction suffers from Niger delta kidnap jitters
AFP
ABUJA
Petroleumworld.com 05 14 07Only around half of 45 oil exploration blocks Nigeria put up for auction Friday attracted bids, with foreigners wary of political uncertainy ahead of a government change, officials said.
The vast majority of those who submitted bids Friday were domestic oil companies.
The few foreign bidders were virtual unknowns, an AFP reporter at the auction said.
Oil and gas analysts blamed the timing of the auction for the lack of interest on the part of big western oil companies.
The bid round comes between the April elections and May 29, the date at which the outgoing administration of Olusegun Obasanjo hands over to its successors.
Oil majors are uncertain as to how the incoming government will handle the problem of the Niger delta, where more than 30 foreigners have been abducted since the start of the month.
Nigeria has already cut back the number of blocks it decided to offer in the 2007 bid round. Senior energy officials had initially said late last year that some 60 blocks were going to be offered to satisfy massive interest from Asian investors.
The same officials subsequently revised down that figure to 45.
Some international, and notably Asian, oil companies that had been given priority to make bids for certain fields declined to do so.
The 11 inland basin blocks among those offered Friday attracted no bids at all.
Tony Chukwueke, Nigeria's Director of Petroleum Resources (DPR), admitted on the sidelines of the auction that the absence of bids for those blocks was "a bit disappointing".
He declined to comment on the way the auction as a whole went.
AFP 11 2002 GMT 05 07
Copyright© 2007 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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