By WILL CONNORS

LAGOS, Nigeria — Exxon Mobil Corp. ended months of negotiations with Nigeria by renewing three oil leases for fields the company operates in the country, an Exxon spokesman said.

The three leases — for sites that produce more than 550,000 barrels a day — were extended for another 20 years with an option to renew, at a signing ceremony Friday in the capital, Abuja.

Neither Exxon nor the Nigerian government provided details about the price paid for renewing the leases.

A person close to the deal said the government had asked for about $4 billion for the leases, but that Exxon paid less than $1 billion.

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Oando becomes major player in African country long dominated by foreign energy companies

By SPENCER SWARTZ and WILL CONNORS

LAGOS, Nigeria—In a few months, Oando PLC, a small oil company here, is expected to take a rare step for any Nigerian company by applying for a listing on the London Stock Exchange. The move is an indication of something even more unusual about Oando: it is in position to become this oil-rich country’s first major energy company.

The Nigerian oil market has for years been dominated by major foreign players like Royal Dutch Shell PLC, whose advanced technology and know-how have allowed this West African state to become the world’s eighth-biggest oil exporting nation. But Oando, under chief executive Wale Tinubu, has bucked traditional investor views of Nigerian oil firms, most of which have little track record for being able to execute challenging oil projects.

Oando is parlaying its position as Nigeria’s leading fuel retailer—a status it built just in the last few years—into plans to be a bigger, integrated oil company. With strong management that is seen as credible to the broader investment world, Oando, which is audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers, has separated itself from a raft of other small local players.

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