Chevron sells Nigerian fuel marketing businesses
LAGOS, March 23 (Reuters) - U.S. energy giant Chevron Corp (CVX.N) has completed the long-contested sale of its Nigerian fuel marketing businesses, part of efforts to shrink its marketing operations.
The company said in an announcement late on Friday it had sold Chevron Nigeria Holdings Ltd to Corlay Global SA, a Panamanian firm owned by an Africa-based consortium.
Chevron Nigeria Holdings owns 60 percent of Chevron Oil Nigeria Plc CHEV.LG, formerly Texaco Plc, which is listed in Lagos and which owns downstream marketing assets in Nigeria.
Chevron's divestment from the downstream sector of Africa's top oil producer has been controversial.
A Nigerian court ordered Chevron's local unit to suspend sale plans last August after a challenge by local firm Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd, which also held a stake in the gasoline retailer said it feared a sale to what it called an "incompetent bidder" would be against the interests of other shareholders.
Chevron subsequently announced in September that it had agreed to sell several of its West African fuels marketers to Corlay in what it said was an effort to align its marketing operations with its refinery assets.
Nigeria's senior oil workers' union also initially contested the sale, saying outstanding labour issues needed to be resolved before any divestment could go ahead.
Chevron said in a statement its upstream operations in Nigeria, the world's eighth biggest crude oil exporter, were not affected by the sale. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: af.reuters.com/ ) (Reporting by Nick Tattersall; editing by James Jukwey)
