The president of Nigeria says Exxon wants to invest $10 billion in oil in the country

A presidential spokesman said Thursday that company executives from Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) have suggested a $10 billion investment in offshore oil operations as part of a new push for investment in Nigeria.

The deal was made during talks between Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima and Shane Harris, CEO of Exxon’s operations in Nigeria, on Wednesday in New York, while Shettima was in attendance at the U.N. General Assembly. A statement from the presidential spokesperson, Stanley Nkwocha, said the deal was made.

Exxon wants to put most of its attention on building its $10 billion Owo project, which is a big deep-water project.

The company also wants to keep running its operations in Nigeria even though it agreed to sell its coastal assets to Seplat Energy for $1.3 billion and spend $2.5 billion a year to increase oil production by 50,000 barrels per day (bpd).

The office of Nigeria’s president and Exxon are working together “to secure favorable fiscal arrangements that will make this significant investment possible,” Harris was quoted as saying.

A spokeswoman for Exxon didn’t answer right away when asked for comment.

The Nigerian government gets most of its money and foreign exchange from oil production, which rose by 10.15 percent in the second quarter to an average of 1.41 million barrels per day (bpd), up from 1.22 million bpd the previous year.

But Africa’s biggest oil provider is still having problems with its oil industry, such as theft and sabotage on a large scale, even though it passed a law three years ago to make regulations less uncertain and bring in more investments.

“This potential investment by ExxonMobil aligns perfectly with President Bola Tinubu administration’s vision for a more investment-friendly Nigeria,” she said. “We are committed to creating an enabling environment for such transformative projects.”