China, Nigeria sign oil development agreement
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-12-19 08:59

China and Nigeria has signed an agreement to develop Oil Mining Lease (OML) 64 and 66 located in the deep waters of the oil rich Niger Delta, south Nigeria, the latest edition of the Nigerian state oil company publication NPDC News said on Friday.

According to the publication, the agreement was signed by the managing directors of the China Petrochemical Corporation (SINOPEC) and the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), the exploration and production arm of the state-owned Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation.

Under the agreement, SINOPEC promises to drill the first barrel of oil from the OMLs in the next eight months.

"The agreement is an important building block to future opportunities aimed at fostering greater cooperation between the two companies," it said.

It added the initiative would go a long way to improve petroleum development in Nigeria which in turn would boost the nation's economic base.

The publication stated that five exploration wells have been drilled in OML 64, and one well encountered hydrocarbon resources.

In OML 66, 18 exploration wells have been drilled with 12 encountering hydrocarbon reservoirs.

Nigeria is the largest oil producer in Africa and the sixth largest oil exporter in the world with a daily output of 2.5 million barrels of crude.

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