Niger-China Joint Venture Refinery to Begin Supplying Fuel to Nigeria within Months

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Niger's Zinder Refinery is in the final stages of construction before commissioning and could be exporting petroleum products to Nigeria, its giant neighbor to the south, by the end of this year. This will relieve some of the critical fuel shortages from which Nigerians have been suffering. Nigerians have not overlooked the irony of Nigeria, a major oil producer, being unable to meet its own fuel refining requirements.

For further information see August 11, 2011, article - Low-Income Nigerians Turn to Wood and Charcoal as Kerosene Supplies Go Missing.

The $600 million refinery project is a joint venture (JV) between the Nigerian government and China National Petroleum Company (CNPC). The 20,000-barrel-per-day plant will be in Zinder, in southern Nigeria.

In June 2008, CNPC and Niger signed integrated upstream and downstream agreements in the Agadem oil block, which covered oilfield exploration and development, construction and operation of a long-distance pipeline and the JV refinery. In 2010, high-yield flow was obtained from three exploration wells under a formation test in the Dibeilla area, east of Agadem.

CNPC reports that all preliminary work has been completed for the construction of 50 wells, equipped with above-ground installations, between Agadem and the Zinder refinery. Pipelines over the 460-kilometer route have been welded and buried. The pipeline project will require an investment of up to $400 million.

CNPC also has an agreement with the government of Niger to operate and develop oil blocks in the hinterland of the Sahara Desert, covering a total area of 132,000 square kilometers. At a meeting with Niger's president, Mahamadou Issoufou, the Chinese ambassador to Niger, Xia Huang, said that in 2012 the country will be self-sufficient in petroleum and diesel oil, as production will have begun.

The Nigeria-Niger joint commission will be revived and will cover the sectors of power, agriculture, rail transport and water supply, in addition to Niger's fuel exports to Nigeria. Food security will be supported by Nigeria's exploitation of gas-fed projects for power and fertilizer, and mutual security concerns are to be addressed.

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