Nigeria, Cameroon seek to explore border oil fields

By Tansa Musa

YAOUNDE, March 29 (Reuters) - Nigeria and Cameroon plan to explore for oil on their common maritime frontier in the Gulf of Guinea after settling a decades-old border dispute through an international court, officials from both countries said.

The two countries agreed a redefinition in early March of their maritime border after the International Court of Justice ruled the long-disputed Bakassi Peninsula belonged to Cameroon, based on a 1913 colonial era treaty between Britain and Germany.

Nigerian Minister of State for Energy, Odein Ajumogobia, told reporters late on Friday at a ministerial meeting of the African Petroleum Producers Association (APPA) in Cameroon that the two countries would work together to exploit oil fields spanning the border.

"Cameroon and Nigeria are both members of APPA. Cameroon and Nigeria have a wonderful relationship. We were able to resolve the Bakassi issue peacefully, so I have no doubt that we'll resolve any other issue that may arise the same way, including exploitation of oil resources along our border," he said.

At least three known oil wells span the frontier in the Bakassi region, experts from both countries said at the Yaounde meeting, although they gave no details on the viability or potential output from the fields.

Ajumogobia said the border deal would have no significant effect on oil output from Nigeria, which remains Africa's top producer despite chronic instability in its oil rich Niger Delta region where armed militant groups have disrupted production.

"Our production today is about 2.1 million barrels per day. Our production capacity is about 1.4 million barrels a day more. We have a lot of oil shut in as a result of security issues in the Niger Delta area, technical difficulties and financial problems," he said.

By contrast, Cameroon produced just 86,000 barrels of crude oil a day in 2006, according to the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration.