Niger expects to export its first barrels of crude oil through a new Niger-Benin pipeline in January.
The PetroChina-backed export pipeline project was officially launched on November 1, linking Niger's Agadem oilfield to the Benin port of Cotonou.
Storage tanks in Cotonou are currently being filled and should be done by January, when the commercialisation phase will start.
Niger will get a 25.4% of the 90,000 barrels of a day (bdp) that will be exported through the pipeline, Reuters reported.
The West African country currently has a small oil refinery with capacity of around 20,000 bpd which mostly supplies Niger's domestic fuel market.
New Niger-Benin pipeline set to deliver barrels of crude
