26 August 2013, News Wires – Niger has signed a production-sharing agreement with SuntrustOil Company Nigeria, as the West African nation seeks to diversify its foreign partners.
The deal covers research exploration and production on Niger’s Tounfalis Block, with the state receiving 40% to 55% of the profit from oil revenues, according to a statement read on state television late on Friday.
SuntrustOil will also pay royalties of 13% for crude and 3% for natural gas, Reuters reported.
China National Petroleum Corporation, CNPC, is Niger’s dominant international partner and helped the country begin pumping oil in late 2011 as part of a $5 billion deal to develop the Agadem Block in the east.
State-owned CNPC is also looking for oil in the northern block of Bilma and co-owns the 20,000 barrel per day Soraz refinery with the government.
Niger signed nine production-sharing deals with five companies in July 2012, Reuters reported.
Lagos-based SuntrustOil is partnered with Midwestern Oil and Gas and Mart Resources on the Umusadege field in Nigeria’s Delta, which currently produces an average of 13,000 bpd of oil, according to the company’s website.
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