CRUDE OIL AUCTIONS.

Nigeria set for crude oil auction.

Foreign oil companies already have invested heavily in Nigeria. Nigeria is expected to announce the winners of dozens of new oil exploration contracts on Friday. Hundreds of oil firms from Asia, the US and Europe are taking part in Nigeria's first fully open oil rights auction. The plots stretch from Lake Chad in the north-east of the country to the Gulf of Guinea in its south-western corner. Firms are excited about the prospects in Nigeria - Africa's top producer and a member of oil exporter group, Opec.

They will have to pay "signature bonuses" of between $500,000 (£277,000) and $50m per land parcel should they be chosen. One corporate official described the plots as "virgin territory" with the potential for surprises.

Adding to the interest is the fact that the price of crude has surged to record levels.
Many economists are predicting that the cost of a barrel could go even higher and may even break the $100 mark. The cost has driven petrol prices up sharply in Nigeria itself, sparking calls for strikes and long queues at those filling stations which remained open.

According to the Reuters news agency, Nigeria has already awarded two firms preferential rights over five plots after they promised to invest in the country's infrastructure.
"No operator has talked railway to me, no operator has talked shipyards" said Edmund Daukoru, Minister of State for Petroleum

Foreign oil companies have been criticised for failing to improve the lot of Nigerians living near their operations. There have also been clashes with disgruntled locals and a number of kidnappings in the Niger Delta, where most of Nigeria's oilfields lie.

Minister of State for Petroleum Edmund Daukoru was robust in his defence of the decision to award the contracts to Korea National Petroleum and Chinese Petroleum of Taiwan ahead of Friday's auction, "The best bidders have not helped with our national aspirations," Mr Daukoru told Reuters in an interview.