November 20, 2012: French oil company Total is selling 20 percent of its Nigerian operations to a Chinese firm for $2.5 billion. The Chinese are willing to move in because they ignore media or diplomatic criticism of whatever harsh (to Westerners) methods they use to run their business operations in Africa. The brutality of the Chinese sometimes angers the Africans but the Chinese shrug it off and keep their business operations going.

Not 20% of Total’s Nigerian operations, but its 20% holding in the Usan offshore oil field in the OML 138 block. There are probably over a dozen different companies holding the other 80%. Total as the operator probably held the largest single chunk, but the holders of the other 80% basically act as the board of directors for a corporation and are expected to provide oversight, and are susceptible pressure from their home governments. If China engages in brutality, and particularly if they blow off the Nigerian government, China could find themselves voted out of the operations spot.

 

The field currently produces 130,000 bpd (barrels per day), so China’s share is 26,000 bpd, out of a total Nigerian production of more than 2 MMBPD.  So the Chinese effectively own 1.3% of the Nigerian production