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Browne Leads Bidding Group for Shell Nigeria Fields, Times Says

By Abigail Moses - 2010-10-24T16:08:17Z

BP Plc’s former Chief executive Officer John Browne is leading a group of bidders for $4 billion of Nigerian oil fields being sold by Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the Sunday Times said today.

Browne’s Riverstone Management Ltd. is interested in bidding, as are KKR & Co. and Blackstone Group LP, the Times said. Another bid group includes Perenco SA, Addax & Oryx Group Ltd. and Oando Plc, the newspaper said. Any bidder will have to have a local partner to meet government requirements, it said.

Partners ENI SpA and Total SA have the right to buy Shell’s 30 percent stake in the fields, and Nigeria’s majority holding national oil company must approve any deal, the Times said.

Kim Blomley, a spokesman for Shell in London, declined to comment to Bloomberg News today about the report.

To contact the reporter on this story: Abigail Moses in London at Amoses5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Armstrong at Parmstrong10@bloomberg.net