LUANDA, Sept. 23(Xinhuanet)-- An oil official of Sao Tome and Principe has said that his country and Nigeria will sign production sharing contracts(PSCs) in November with oil companies already chosen to operate five offshore blocks in the two countries' shared exploration zone.

According to reports reaching here on Friday, Carlos Gomes, chairman of the Joint Development Authority(JDA), was speaking in Sao Tome after ten days of negotiations between oil companies involved and the JDA.

Gomes said proposals for the operation of the offshore blocks will now be submitted to Abuja and Sao Tome's Joint Ministerial Council(JMC) for further harmonization and final approval.

The reports said during negotiations, the JDA and mainly Nigerian and US-controlled oil companies involved discussed dates for first test drillings and payment of signature bonuses for the five blocks, estimated to total about 400 million US dollars.

Signature bonuses for an earlier offshore block awarded to ChevronTexaco and ExxonMobil netted 123 million US dollars, of which Sao Tome has already received 49 million US dollars.

Under a 2002 oil treaty, Nigeria and Sao Tome agreed to carve up their future oil revenues 60 percent to 40 percent in Abuja's favor. Enditem