* NNPC funding problems holding back oil projects
* Exxon and NNPC joint venture has 550,000 bpd oil capacity
By Joe Brock and Emma Farge
ABUJA/GENEVA, May 23 (Reuters) - Nigeria's state-oil companyand a local unit of Exxon Mobil plan to tap the bondmarket by 2016 to fill a funding shortfall in developing oilexploration projects, the companies have said.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) owns atleast 50 percent in several joint ventures with oil majors suchas Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon and Chevron butoften fails to meet its share of project funding.
Oil majors say NNPC's lack of financing is one of thebiggest brakes on progress in Africa's largest oil industry,which produces over 2 million bpd of oil and holds the world'sninth biggest gas reserves.
"NNPC is meeting with her joint venture partner (Exxon) tobrainstorm on alternative sources of funding such as bondmarkets to enhance revenue," NNPC's Finance Director BennardOtti was quoted as saying in a notice on the company's website.
Exxon's local unit Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN) and theNNPC operate a joint venture with a capacity of over 550,000barrels per day of crude oil, condensate and gas liquids. MPNhas a 40 percent stake with NNPC holding the other 60 percent.
The joint venture will use external financing options from2013-2015 but will access the bond market by 2016, MPN's ChiefFinancial Officer Segun Banwo was quoted as saying.
An NNPC spokesman gave no details on how much would beraised or which bond markets would be tapped.
