Niger restarts oil exports through Benin after months-long halt

Landlocked Niger has restarted crude oil exports through Benin after a previous dispute halted shipments via a newly constructed Chinese-funded pipeline.

The conflict arose when Niger refused to lift its ban on imported goods from Benin, prompting the coastal country to block oil exports through the PetroChina-backed pipeline in May, Reuters reported.

Niger subsequently ceased oil flow through the pipeline in June. Last month, the junta-led country agreed to discussions with Benin’s government, facilitated by two former Benin presidents, to restore relations.

An agent from the West African Gas Pipeline Company (Wapco), which manages the pipeline, said that the Aura M, a Liberian-flagged crude oil tanker, loaded about one million barrels of oil from Niger at the Benin port on Tuesday.

Ship tracking data from MarineTraffic, a global maritime analytics provider, confirmed that the vessel was loaded and left the Benin port on Tuesday afternoon.

The Wapco-operated pipeline, which has a capacity of 90,000 barrels per day, began operations earlier this year. It spans nearly 2,000 kilometres (1,243 miles) from Niger’s Agadem oilfield to Benin’s coast.

Niger’s ban on imports from Benin, which led to the pipeline’s shutdown, stemmed from political disagreements within the West African regional bloc ECOWAS, which imposed sanctions on Niger last year.

Although ECOWAS later lifted sanctions on Niger, the government in Niamey did not reciprocate by allowing imports from Benin. It was unclear on Wednesday how the dispute was resolved to allow Niger’s oil exports to resume.