Abstract

The recent divestments of exploration and production (E&P) interests or leases in the onshore areas of the Nigerian Niger Delta by some international oil corporations (IOCs) that operated these upstream assets for decades under a joint venture with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation reflects a preference to focus more on deepwater prospects and possibly due to other international energy industry developments. In the same vein, a growing number of Nigerian-owned independents show the required capacity to acquire and operate these onshore leases, thus, leading to new upstream ...