Representatives from hundreds of oil companies around the world are bidding for new oil exploration contracts in Nigeria.
Nigeria is offering the rights to over 70 parcels of land Friday in the largest open bidding in the country's history.
The land stretches from Lake Chad in the northeast to the Gulf of Guinea in the south, where huge oil discoveries have already been made.
Also Friday, the Nigerian government raised domestic oil prices by about 40 percent.
Although Nigeria is the continent's top crude oil exporter, it has to import refined oil and has been affected by record high oil prices.
Nigerian labor unions say they will fight the price hike.
Some information for this report provided by AFP and Reuters.
