Shell is considering putting up four more oil blocs in Nigeria for sale, on account of increasing oil spills, crude theft, community challenges and its inability to renew the licenses of some of the fields.

The blocs, the Oil Mining Licenses, OMLs, 13 and 16 onshore, the Niger Delta, and OML 71 and 72, which are shallow waters, according to the report, are in joint ventures with Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.

The report state that, OML  13 and 16 lie in Ogoniland region, where Shell had experienced long-running disputes with local communities, multiple oil spills and widespread pipeline sabotage and theft, OML 13 on the other hand covers a large geographical area and has big gas reserves, while OML 16 is a much smaller asset.

The report further stated that OML 72 had proven oil reserves of around 120 million barrels while OML71 has significantly lower reserves.

The report reveals that NNPC owns 55 per cent, Shell 30 per cent, TOTAL 10 per cent and ENI 5 per cent, adding that in all its previous deals, TOTAL and ENI had also sold their shares.

A London-based head of oil and gas at Ecobank Research, Rolake Akinkugbe explained that the move offshore is being viewed as a longer term solution to the challenges faced onshore and in the shallow waters.

However, an energy analyst as Stanbic IBTC Bank, Lagos, Gbenga Sholotan, noted that apart from the security concerns, energy companies in Nigeria are refusing on deep-water production because of declining onshore reserves; as such reserve replacement strategy is coming into play.