Nigeria's state-owned oil company NNPC Ltd announced on Thursday that it had renewed a production sharing contract with Total, China National Offshore Oil Corp and others, a major step in resolving disputes over a deepwater oil block in the Niger Delta.
Oil Mining lease 130 is located offshore the Niger Delta at water depths of over 1,000 meters. The block contains the Akpo and Egina producing fields and the Preowei discovery.
NNPC said in a statement that the agreements will pave the way "to confirm the final investment decision on Preowei amounting to $2.1 billion".
NNPC stated that the agreements would convert the lease to a petroleum exploitation license, in accordance with a new law.
Nigeria struggled with low production of oil due to massive crude theft, pipeline vandalism and underinvestment. The majors pétrolières in the country are moving away from land-based operations to focus on deepwater projects.