The Nigerian National Petroleum Corp renewed Oil Mining Lease 118 [Bonga] with the local subsidiaries of Shell, Total, Exxon, and Eni for another 20 years, the West African country’s state oil firm said in a statement on Tuesday.
The deal signals the end of “long-standing disputes over the interpretation of the fiscal terms of the production-sharing contracts” between the investors in the field, the statement said.
The Nigerian government will immediately recognize revenues of $780 million from the signing of the agreement, “while it would also free the parties from over $9 billion in contingent liabilities,” the statement said.
The deal was signed between NNPC, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, Total Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited, Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited and Nigerian Agip Exploration, the statement said.
(Reporting by Camillus Eboh; Writing by Paul Carsten; Editing by Leslie Adler and Sonya Hepinstall)