Business
Niger becomes oil producer
Niger officially became an oil producer Monday with the opening of a refinery run by the state and a Chinese company.
Niger’s President Mahamadou Issoufou and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) boss Jiang Jiemin cut the red ribbon at the new plant at Olelewa in the east, near the country’s second city Zinder.
“Niger has entered the era of oil production,” Issoufou said as he inaugurated the refinery decorated in the colours of the two countries.
“Niger, which has up to now imported its petrol (gasoline), will become self-sufficient, and then start exporting.”
Energy Minister Foumakoye Gado said locally produced fuel will be sold at the pump starting Thursday at a price of 570 CFA francs (US$1.16) per litre of gasoline — down from the current 679 CFA francs (US$1.38).
The price of diesel will drop to 577 CFA francs (US$1.17) from 655 CFA francs (US$1.33).
Long considered unprofitable by Western prospectors, the extraction of crude oil started in September in Agadem in the Niger desert, from where it is piped to Olelewa some 460 kilometres (290 miles) away for refining.
Niger expects to produce about 20,000 barrels of fuel a day, initially just for the local market.
