Niger obtains an advance of more than 240 billion FCFA on the sale of its crude oil to China

Ouagadougou: Niger formalized, yesterday Friday in Niamey, three agreements for the sale of its crude oil to the Chinese who have already agreed to pay an advance of 400 million USD, or some 246 billion FCFA, reports the Niger Press Agency. 'The Prime Minister of the Transition, Mr. Ali Mahamane Lamine Zeine, and the CEO of the Chinese company CNPC, Mr. Zhou Zuokun, proceeded, late in the afternoon of this Friday, April 12, 2024, to the formalization of three agreements for the sale of crude oil which returns to Niger, with an advance of 400 million dollars that Niger requested,' specifies the ANP. These agreements concern a Memorandum of Standby between China and Niger, a contract for the joint marketing of crude oil and a contract for payment of the advance on the share of crude oil which returns to Niger. The envelope of 400 million USD will be used for acquisitions intended to secure the Nigerien territory and to honor other past commitments, according to Prime Minister Lamine Zeine. It will also be u sed to finance agricultural development investments, the creation of production infrastructure and the improvement of medical services. 'Part of these resources will be used to create leverage on the unfreezing of funding that will come, but also on the State's capacity to invest to create a sort of virtuous circle so that our economic operators can obviously respect their rights,' said the Nigerien Prime Minister, quoted by the ANP. According to the ANP, the repayment of this advance will be made on the basis of the first exports and this in 12 months with an interest rate of 7%. Discovered in the 1960s, Niger's oil deposits waited until 2011 to begin exploitation without the country really benefiting from them. Source: Burkina Information Agency