A visit by senior officials from Nigerien customs led a mission to Benin to discuss the major oil pipeline project linking the two countries. She notably visited the terminal station from which Nigerien oil exports will leave.
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With our correspondent in Cotonou, Jean-Luc Aplogan
Ultimately, the two customs administrations did not get involved, at least publicly, in the subject of the border still closed on the Niger. They remained focused on the pipeline.
Today’s Nigerien interlocutors are not those with whom the Benign concluded the first agreements. The project was launched in 2019 by the president Mahamadou Issoufou. His successor, Mohamed Bazoum, overthrown by the military, visited the terminal station in Benin in March last year. During his visit, the project completion rate exceeded 75%.
With the Nigerien junta currently in power, there is no question of calling this project into question, on the contrary. According to our information, the mission in Benin was a Nigerian request. The authorities want to manage this commercial partnership with total trust. Particularly because the economic stakes are enormous: 90,000 barrels per day. So, everything was reviewed to understand and reassure ourselves. The report which sanctions the mission, kept secret, is an updating document.
The Nigerien delegation left with the information that the oil injected into the pipes from Agadem will arrive at Sèmè Kraké in Benin in less than 40 days for the first exports.