Nigeria receives $ 13 bn from oil firms in four years

International oil companies operating in Nigeria paid the country more than $ 13 bn as taxes and profits from deepwater blocks in the past four years.
Andrew Fawthrop, the managing director of Chevron in Nigeria, released the figures at the annual conference of the National Association of Petroleum Explorations held in the capital Abuja. He also disclosed that the foreign firms had invested more than $ 21 bn in the development of the blocks in the same period.

The financing of deep water blocks is taken up solely by the international oil companies, a model which is different from the shallow water and onshore blocks, whereby the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation pays its share of investments, he said. Fawthrop said the huge investments made by the companies were under threat by the fiscal regime proposed in the Petroleum Industry Bill before the National Assembly.
"With the current industry bill restructuring, the government holds both the yam and the knife. We look forward to themcarefully sharing the yam between the treasury account, the communities, the investor companies, including Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation and the contractors," he said.

The Chevron boss stressed that deepwater exploration and drilling was the next frontier, which would provide access to oil in very remote and difficult places. The International Energy Agency projected that between 2007 and 2015, the world would need additional 37.5 mm barrels of oil per day to meet rising demand, he told the gathering.
The Chevron chief saw the needs for new technology.
"Some technologies are being stretched into more difficult environments and some brand new technology challenges are needed," he said.