il block award review likely

Nigerian officials on Thursday said there was likely to be a review of the
controversial award of 11 deepwater oil concessions to local firms, some
linked to senior military officers, Reuters reported.

Last month's award of blocks in some of the the world's most sought-after
exploration territory worried donors, who said privately that it could
adversely affect debt relief, Reuters said. The award also infuriated
supporters of president elect General Olusegun Obasanjo, who is due to
take office on 29 May.

"Obasanjo's people have already told us these blocks could be cancelled as
soon as he takes office," Reuters quoted a government official as saying.

The blocks were "quietly" allocated in March to firms in Nigeria, only one
of which, Amni International, had previous experience in oil production,
Reuters said. The concessions in the Gulf of Guinea lie next to blocks
where multinational oil companies have discovered hundreds of millions of
barrels of crude. Some of the firms were linked to senior military
officers, both retired and within General Abdulsalami Abubakar's outgoing
administration, the agency said.