NNPC has said that two local firms had completed the purchase of 45 per cent stakes in two onshore oil blocks, previously owned by Shell, Total and Eni .

First Hydrocarbon Nigeria (FHN), owned by Afren, bought a 45 pct stake in OML 26 owned jointly by Shell, Total and Eni, NNPC said. The block has target production of 50,000 barrels of oil per day by 2015. No details on the purchase value of the oil block were provided in the statement by NNPC.

NNPC said the foreign oil majors sold 45 per cent of OML 42 to Neconde Energy. Neconde at the bidding stages was a consortium including Nigerian firms Nestoil, Aries and VP Global and Poland’s Kulczk Oil Ventures.

These blocks are among several put up for sale this year by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), a joint venture between Shell (30 percent), Total (10 percent), Eni (5 percent) and NNPC (55 percent).

NNPC is transferring its stake in the former SPDC blocks to Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), the exploration and production arm. NPDC and FHN will jointly operate production from OML 26.

“NPDC has the necessary resources (capital and human) and working closely with FHN is poised to give quality services to the venture in the interest of both partners,” Austen Oniwon, NNPC managing director, said at a signing ceremony attended by Shell, NPDC and FHN officials, the statement said.

“With the assignment of NNPC’s 55 per cent interest in the block to NPDC, the company is on track to achieve its target of production of 250,000 barrels per day by 2015.” Deals for three other SPDC owned blocks, OML 30, 34 and 40 are still unresolved.

Some buyers have expressed doubts about NPDC’s capability to operate production and this has held up agreements.

Sharing operator rights between NPDC and the buyers could be an acceptable compromise. Shell has said that despite these sales it views Nigeria as a key part of its business and this is not the beginning of a wider departure from Africa’s most populous nation.