Niger Aims to Become Major Oil Exporter

Niger has resumed oil exports after it reached an agreement with neighboring Benin following a recent border dispute. 

Niger stopped crude shipments in June after the West African nation closed a pipeline operated by China National Petroleum Corp. that links the Agadem oil field to the Sèmè Kpodji terminal in Benin.

“We’ve reached an agreement. Loading of crude started this morning,” Benin Energy Minister Samou Adambi told reporters on Monday, with Prime Minister Ali Lamine Zeine’s office confirming the resumption of shipments.

Niger relies on the 1,950 km-long Niger-Benin Export Pipeline, built by CNPC as part of a $4.6 billion in the country’s petroleum industry, to repay a $400 million oil-for-cash loan from the Chinese company. Niger plans to use revenue generated by oil shipments to repay the loan. The landmark 110,000 b/d Niger-Benin pipeline will increase Niger’s crude production five-fold and make the country a significant exporter. Prior to the construction of the pipeline, landlocked Niger produced just 20,000 b/d of crude from its Agadem Rift Basin, which it primarily used domestically due to a lack of an export route. Savannah Energy Plc (OTCPK:SVNNF), the only Western company operating in Niger, plans to bring a 1,500 b/d oil project onstream before ramping up to 5,000 b/d.

CNPC was on the verge of overhauling Niger’s oil sector when President Mohamed Bazoum was overthrown by his presidential guard in 2023, triggering a raft of sanctions by regional economic body ECOWAS as well as condemnation from Western governments. Military ruler Abdourahamane Tchiani replaced Bazoum as the country’s leader. Niger was a longstanding Western ally under Bazoum and was considered a bulwark against the spread of extremism across the Sahel, including emerging oil producers like Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana. In contrast, Tchiani is decidedly anti-western and quickly cut ties with former colonial power France in favor of Russia.

Over the past decade, China has increasingly abandoned its so-called “Angola model” wherein it provided oil-backed loans to African countries to finance the building of roads, hydroelectric dams, railways, etc. China has, instead, been turning to Gulf countries and Russia with more reliable production infrastructure.