ABUJA, Nigeria, June 10 (UPI) -- Chevron confirmed it was putting some of its shallow water oil leases in Nigeria on the auction block to restructure its current portfolio.
Chevron regional manager for public affairs Deji Haastrup confirmed the divestment to The Guardian (Nigeria) newspaper Sunday. The company plans to sell off oil mining leases 83 and 85, which are located in the shallow waters near the Niger Delta.
The Nigerian newspaper reports the lease areas hold as much as 250 million barrels of oil. The oil company, one of the largest in the world, began examining development in 2004 because of higher oil prices and profits, but never developed them fully.
Chevron's daily production from Nigeria as of 2012 was around 238,000 barrels of crude oil and 160 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.
Rival energy company Royal Dutch Shell has said it couldn't meet its contractual obligations from Nigeria because of sabotage against its pipeline networks in the Niger Delta. The Nigerian government said in May it was committed to addressing the problem of sabotage.
Nigeria is the No. 7 oil producer among the 12-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
