Niger and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), a Chinese state-owned oil giant, inked a $400 million memorandum of understanding for the transfer of crude oil from the African country's Agadem oilfield, according to Niger state television RTN.
"China is a great friend to Niger; we can never say it enough," Prime Minister Ali Mahamane Lamine Zeine said at the signing ceremony.
In turn, Chinese ambassador Jiang Feng said that "this signature demonstrates the friendship" and "fruitful cooperation between the two states."
An export pipeline project connecting the Agadem oilfield to the port of Cotonou in neighboring Benin was commissioned last November and is operated by CNPC subsidiary PetroChina. It was reported that Niger would hold a 15% share in the pipeline.
Before the pipeline launch, the West African nation had only a modest Soraz oil refinery near the city of Zinder that produced about 20,000 barrels per day, mostly for the domestic fuel market in Niger. The launch of the pipeline is expected to increase production to 110,000 barrels per day.
According to S&P Global Commodity Insights sources, the first shipment of oil could be delivered as early as April.
In the east of the continent, there is a similar pipeline, also being carried out with the support of China — the East African Crude Oil Pipeline Project (EACOP). It will transport crude oil from Uganda's oil fields on Lake Albert to the Indian Ocean port of Tanga in Tanzania, where it will be sold to global markets. The project is currently under construction.
Last week, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni thanked China for supporting the EACOP while encouraging the Asian giant's enterprises to invest in the African continent.