By James Kraus
Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) — Chevron Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Total SA may have to pay more for oil under new contracts with Nigeria, Africa’s biggest producer, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Profit for the oil companies may end up 5 to 10 percent lower and the loss of earnings might amount to hundreds of millions of dollars over several years, the newspaper said, citing an unidentified senior Nigerian oil official.
Nigeria produces about 2.1 million barrels a day, or about 2.5 percent of global oil demand, and President Umaru Yar’Adua has proposed setting up a national oil company to better manage the country’s oil and natural-gas resources, the Journal said.
Crude-oil futures in New York closed yesterday at $94.39 a barrel and the contracts up for renewal were signed when oil traded at about $20 a barrel, the newspaper said, adding that Shell, Exxon, Chevron and Total declined to comment on possible changes.
To contact the reporter on this story: James Kraus in New York at [email protected]
Last Updated: December 13, 2007 04:17 EST
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