Shell sells Nigerian oil field stake to local firm

Royal Dutch Shell's Nigerian unit has sold its stake in a Niger Delta oil field for $737 million (684 million euros) to a local company, the British energy group said Friday.

Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited -- a joint venture with the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation -- has sold the 30-percent holding to local firm Eroton Exploration & Production, it said in a statement.

"This divestment is part of the strategic review of SPDC's onshore portfolio and is in line with the Federal Government of Nigeria's aim of developing Nigerian companies in the country's upstream oil and gas business," it added.

The field, Oil Mining Lease 18, covers an area of 1,035 square kilometres in the eastern Niger Delta and produced a daily average of 14,000 barrels of oil equivalent last year.

Eroton has also bought holdings from divisions of Total of France and ENI of Italy, taking its total stake in OML18 to 45 percent.