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.