"Chinese state firm agrees US$400 million loan for Niger junta in return for oil" 17 April 2024

Niger’s military junta has signed a US$400 million deal with a Chinese state-owned oil giant China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) as part of its plan to “diversify international partnerships” after cutting ties with France and the United States. According to the Nigerien Press Agency, the Chinese company will be repaid with crude oil shipments within 12 months at an interest rate of 7 per cent...

Resource-backed deals of this type are extremely popular with Chinese lenders, but critics say they increase countries’ vulnerability to debt...

The Chinese company has invested US$4.6 billion in Niger’s petroleum industry and PetroChina owns two-thirds of the country’s Agadem oilfield. Niger has been producing 20,000 barrels a day from the Agadem Rift Basin, but border restrictions and sanctions meant it could not export the oil...

The oil deal came weeks after Niger severed military ties with the United States...Niger’s relations with France, its former colonial ruler, also deteriorated after the coup...Niger has instead moved closer to China and Russia...“Russia is working to fill the security void by assigning elements of its Africa Corps to Niger."...

Besides crude oil, Niger has Africa’s highest-grade uranium ore, which accounts for around 5 per cent of the world’s mining output...China National Uranium Corporation, whose parent company is China National Nuclear Corporation, has been carrying out studies on restarting production in Niger’s northern region.