-By Fred Ojiegbe
The Federal Government of Nigeria and the Republic of Niger have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for petroleum products transportation and storage.
Following bilateral agreements between Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari and President Mahamadou Issoufou, talks have been on-going between the two countries for over four months – through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and Niger Republic’s National Oil Company, Societe Nigerienne De Petrole (SONIDEP), on petroleum products transportation and storage.
Niger Republic’s Soraz Refinery in Zinder, some 260km from the Nigerian border, has an installed refining capacity of 20,000 barrels per day. Niger’s total domestic requirement is about 5,000bpd, thus leaving a huge surplus of about 15,000 bpd, mostly for export.
A release by the GGM/SA Media to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Garba Deen Muhammad, stated that the MoU was signed by the GMD NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari and the Director-General of SONIDEP, Mr. Alio Toune under the supervision of the two countries’ Ministers of State for Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva and Mr. Foumakoye Gado, respectively with the Secretary-General of the African Petroleum Producers Organisation (APPO), Dr. Omar Farouk Ibrahim in attendance.
Speaking shortly after the MoU signing, the Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva expressed delight over the development, describing it as another huge step in developing trade relations between both countries.
“This is a major step forward. Niger Republic has some excess products which need to be evacuated. Nigeria has the market for these products. Therefore, this is going to be a win-win relation for both countries. My hope is that this is going to be the beginning of deepening trade relations between Niger Republic and Nigeria,” the Minister added.
Also commenting on the development, the Secretary-General of African Petroleum Producers Organisation (APPO), Dr. Omar Farouk Ibrahim said he could not be happier with what he witnessed in terms of co-operation and collaboration between the two APPO member countries in the area of hydrocarbons.
“I want to commend the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Republic of Niger and their leadership for this milestone.”
In his remarks, the GMD NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, said the two countries have had long engagements in the last four to five months with a view to restoring the importation of petroleum products (excess production) from Niger into Nigeria.
“With this development, we hope to have a long-lasting and sustainable commercial framework to having a pipeline from the Soraz Refinery in Zinder (Niger) into the most proximate Nigerian city so that we can develop a depot.
“We are happy that we have reached that conclusion and our two ministers have endorsed this framework. We are also working on detailed MoU between our two companies so that we can continue the execution process immediately.
The NNPC helmsman further noted that being the more experienced of the two oil companies, the NNPC would support SONIDEP in terms of training and capacity building.
It can be recalled that the two neighbouring countries signed similar MoU in the area of construction of a hydrocarbon pipeline and a petroleum refinery in July 2018. Speaking then after the signing ceremony, Mr Buhari said Nigeria and Niger have excellent relations for several decades, as neighbours sharing a long border with common cultural and historical ties.
“Nigeria sees this cooperation on crude oil export from the Republic of Niger and construction of refinery facilities in Katsina State as a “win – win” for both nations,” Mr Buhari said.
He also said the initiative will not only provide a reliable market for the stranded crude from the Niger Republic but will also provide petroleum products for Nigeria, as the country “aggressively pursues its aspiration on petroleum product self-sufficiency”.