LAGOS, Aug. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- The conflict of interests over the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea among global oil majors emerged this week soon after a South Korean consortium exercised a special right to acquire two deepwater blocks in Nigeria, Africa's top oil producer,at the just-concluded licensing round at the weekend.

    The Gulf of Guinea, famous for its light, sweet crude highly valued by the US market, is believed to hold as much as 10 percent of the world's oil reserves, but almost all of its crude are produced by Western oil giants such as Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron and Total.

    According to the US National Intelligence Council, the United States in diversifying its sources of oil hopes to increase its reliance on the gulf oil from the current level of 15 percent to 25 percent of oil imports in 10 years.

    The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based think tank, in its July report, said: "The Gulf of Guinea is a nexus of vital US foreign policy priorities."

    Asian oil majors, however, also pin their strategies on sourcing oil from the gulf, which undoubtedly runs contrary to the interests of the United States and Europe as well, and Western oilgiants are reluctant to accept the latecomers, according to local observers.

    Nigeria's news daily This Day reported Tuesday that oil companies, including Shell, ExxonMobil Chevron and Total, had accused the Nigerian government of negating the principle of transparency by awarding the two blocks to the Koreans.

    They reportedly alleged that the right of first refusal on the blocks, grafted by the government in return for investors' agreement to help develop Nigeria's downstream petroleum sector like refineries, "cut-short the interest of the oil majors in the exercise."

    "The oil majors have demonstrated their protest against this bystaying away at the bid conference. The next step is to officially write to President Olusegun Obasanjo," one Western oil official was quoted as saying.

    Nigeria's newly-appointed Minister of State for Petroleum Edmund Daukoru, however, told the bidders at the licensing round's opening ceremony that it was "important" and "compelling" to grantthe preferential treatment to investors who would support Nigeria in its infrastructure neglected by Western oil majors for decades.

    South Korea's Energy Ministry, on its part, said in a statement:"The winning of oil exploration right marks one successful example of combining overseas resource development and plant exports, setting a new direction in the pursuit of foreign resources."

    The South Korean consortium made up of four firms led by state-run Korea National Oil Corporation will match the total 485 million US dollars originally offered by Indian investor, ONGC Videsh, which had beaten Shell, ExxonMobil and at least 16 other oil majors.

    Thus, South Koreans will hold 65 percent equity in the two deepwater blocks with reserves said to be up to 2 billion barrels,while ONGC Videsh which originally won them, will have 25 percent and a local firm holds the remaining 10 percent.

    The edge-out of the Indian firm, the highest single bid of 310 million dollars for one of the two blocks as well as the right of first refusal, also show how serious Asia's latecomers are about securing African reserves.

    "The factors indicate how eager they (Indians and Koreans) are to set foot in the Gulf of Guinea," an official from the China National Petroleum Corp., which did not take part in last week's bidding in Nigeria, told Xinhua.

    "Competition for influence in the gulf is fierce," the CSIS also commented in its report. "European interests, official and commercial, remain fully engaged. China, India, and other Asian interests have swiftly enlarged their engagement along multiple lines."

    Even if they agreed to pay big money for the blocks, local analysts said, Asia's latecomers still have a long way to go to source oil from the gulf, which has been plagued by pirates, smugglers and other criminals.

    Groups in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta, such as Ijaw Monitoring Group (IMG), for instance, had threatened to boycott the Koreans and Taiwan's Chinese Petroleum Corp., which had also exercised the special right to win two blocks.

    In the Niger Delta alone, armed militia's attacks on expatriate oil workers led to the temporary shut-in of production of 800,000 barrels per day (bpd) in March 2003 and over 100,000 bpd by July this year, the CSIS said in its report on the African gulf. Enditem