Nigeria Open To Oil Partners Both Old And New - Oil Minister

Nigeria is open to forging relationships with new oil partners, but wants to retain its traditional partners as well, the nation's oil minister Rilwanu Lukman told reporters Friday.

"We want the best for us, but we are open. The idea is to make sure that we retain our old friends that have been with us for many years. But we want to keep open for new ones," he said.

More than a dozen oil blocks are up for renewal this year, including blocks controlled by oil majors Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA), Chevron Corp. (CVX), ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM), and Total SA (TOT).

Most of the oil majors are expected to attempt to retain their control of the fields, but a new player recently entered the picture. The Chinese National Offshore Oil Company has also expressed interest in taking control of significant blocks.

"New [partners] have already come in," Lukman said. "We've got people from Brazil, people from China, people from India. We want to encourage those new people to come in while retaining our old friends."

When asked if Nigeria had a preference for certain oil companies over others, he said "everybody who asks for a field must be able to operate the field efficiently. It doesn't matter if he is an old standing partner or a new one.

-By Will Connors, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]