Court blocks Chevron's Nigeria asset sale

Chevron cannot offload some Nigerian onshore assets until it has settled a legal dispute with an interested party said to have tabled the highest offer, according to a report.

Local operator Britannia-U has succeeded in having a previous order upheld barring the US supermajor from selling stakes in the country, Reuters reported.

Britannia-U is said to have tabled a bit of more than $1 billion for stakes in OML 52, 53 and 55 as Chevron closed in on sale plans in the second half of last year.

The US player then decided to seek alternatives after raising scepticism that Britannia-U could fund such a deal, Reuters reported, citing unidentified industry and banking sources.

Chevron was looking to offload stakes of 40% in some onshore licences, along with exploration potential of 500 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Companies that are said to have failed in the initial round are local players Pillar Oil, Niger Delta Petroleum and MidWestern Oil & Gas, as well as Frontier Oil.

Afren subsidiary First Hydrocarbons Nigeria, Seplat Petroleum Development, Seven Energy, Sonengal and Amni International were said to have also been interested.