ABUJA, Nigeria, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- The Nigerian government could look to Chinese investors to as a revenue source for the country through a possible release of oil acreage, officials said.
The Nigerian government aims to increase its reserve capacity to 40 billion barrels of oil and raise productivity to 4 million barrels per day by the end of the year.
Nigeria would need to add major investors to do so, though previous efforts to attract outside players to energy sector in the oil-rich African nation failed to increase productivity.
Chinese investors have promised to invest as much as $50 billion in more than 20 licenses up for renewal, Nigeria's Next newspaper reports. Reserves at the licenses approach 6 billion barrels of oil by some estimates.
"If government has these acreages that they want to give out, if there are other people that have shown interest for them apart from the existing ones, well so be it," said Isaac Arowolo, the president of a petroleum trade association. "If they compete and win, it's good."
Political uncertainty and pervasive militant activity has created uncertainty in one of Africa's most oil-rich nations. The main militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, ended its cease-fire recently and the government moved to place Goodluck Jonathan, the vice president, in power more than 80 days after President Umaru Yar'Adua left for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia.
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