Russ Oil-Gas

ABUJA, April 1, 2009 (Reuters) - Russian energy giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore three oil blocks in the Chad Basin and Benue Trough in northern Nigeria, local newspapers said on Wednesday. The Russian firm signed the deal with the New Nigeria Development Company (NNDC), a venture owned by Nigeria's 19 northern states, in the northern city of Kaduna on Tuesday, the daily This Day newspaper said. "It is expected that available data on three oil blocks will be analysed by Gazprom and thereafter a work programme for further exploration and survey would be developed," NNDC Managing Director Alhaji Aliyu Alkali was quoted as saying. An NNDC spokesman confirmed an MOU was signed on Tuesday with Gazprom but had no immediate details