Reuters: Shell says many issues to solve on Nigeria funding
Thu Apr 10, 2008 9:42am EDT
LONDON, April 10 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Nigeria are making progress on resolving funding problems involving oil and gas joint ventures with the state oil company, but many problems remain, the oil major said on Thursday.
“We’ve made progress with the main principals, but there’s still an awful lot of important aspects to be resolved,” Malcolm Brinded, head of exploration and production, told reporters at a briefing in Paris.
“It’s going in the right direction, and it’s moving,” he added.
Shell, the largest foreign operator in Nigeria, operates mainly through joint ventures with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, but the state-backed firm has difficulty meeting its share of funding for projects due to the government taking a big share of its profits.
In January, Shell said it was having problems with the government funding its share of the ventures, prompting the Anglo-Dutch company to take a writedown.
(Reporting by Tom Bergin, editing by Will Waterman)
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http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssEnergyNews/idUSL1082163920080410
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