Today, Nigeria renewed three shallow water oil licences jointly operated with ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), granting the U.S. energy firm leases of a further 20 years with the option to renew again. "Today we have reached an agreement on the terms of new leases that will go on for a further 20 years with an option to renew," Minister of State for Petroleum Odein Ajumogobia told reporters in the capital Abuja. Western oil firms including Exxon, Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron (NYSE: CVX) operate in Nigeria via joint ventures with state oil firm NNPC. The three licences (OML 67, 68 and 70) are currently producing 580,000 barrels of oil per day and include the Oso, Ekpe, Edop and Ubit oil fields. They originally expired in November 2008 and were first given to Exxon back in 1968. –Reuters
The combined mortgage delinquency and foreclosure rates hit 14.41% on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, which is the highest ever on record, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s National Delinquency Survey released yesterday. The MBA reported that in the third quarter of 2009, loans 90 days or more past due, loans in foreclosure and foreclosures started all set new records. Only the percentage of loans 30 days past due is still below the record set in the second quarter of 1985. –Daily Finance
CommVault Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CVLT), Citrix Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CTXS) and Red Hat Inc.(NYSE: RHT), whose products are used in corporate data centers, are among the top candidates for acquisitions in the software industry. More on this story here -Bloomberg
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