The Niger-Benin oil pipeline is 30% complete
“Over 600 km have already been laid across several sections of the Niger-Benin Oil Export Pipeline,” said the President of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum.
Touted to be the longest pipeline of Africa, it has been designed to link the Agadem region of eastern Niger to the port of Seme in Benin. A major part of it – almost 2,000 km – will be running through Niger before ending at Seme. In between, there will be a total of nine intermediate stations.
The billion-dollar project is being developed by the West African Oil Pipeline Company (WAPCO), a subsidiary of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). Once completed, the pipeline is expected to have a capacity of producing oil as high as 110,000 bopd, 90,000 bpd of which will be exported, however.
A comparatively new player in the market, Niger has had a bumpy relationship with Chinese investments in the country’s oil sector before. While the project might be a gravy train for China, it remains to be seen how it plays out for one of the heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC).
