Total buys a Chevron offshore Nigerian oil stake

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LAGOS, Nigeria — French oil firm Total SA says it has signed a deal to acquire Chevron Corp.'s stake in an offshore oil block near Nigeria's coastline.

Total announced the deal Thursday for exploration rights in the Joint Development Zone between Nigeria and Sao Tome and Principe. Total says the deal covers an area of roughly 430 miles (nearly 700 kilometers) in the Gulf of Guinea where an oil well was discovered in 2006.

Total says its African fields produce about 750,000 barrels a day — roughly a third of its oil production.