Afren-backed local firm buys Nigeria oil block

First Hydrocarbon Nigeria (FHN), part owned by oil company Afren, said it had bought a 45 per cent stake in Nigerian oil block OML 26 for $147.5 million from Shell, Total and Eni . FHN, a Nigerian firm set up by Afren to purchase local energy assets, said that OML 26 was producing 6,000 barrels of oil per day and this would increase to 40,000 bpd within four years. Shares in Afren, which owns 45 percent of FHN, were up 1.22 percent. The block bought by FHN is one of five Nigerian onshore oil assets Shell has up for sale. It owns 30 percent in the leases; Total has 10 percent and Eni 5 percent. The remaining 55 percent are owned by Nigeria’s state-owned firm NNPC. Shell confirmed on Thursday it had sold its stake in another Nigerian block, OML 42, to local consortium Neconde Energy, which includes Nestoil Group, Aries E&P Company Limited, VP Global and Poland’s Kulczyk Oil Ventures, for $390 million.