Lagos signs oil refinery deal with Chinese

Chinese investors, the Lagos state government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, are to build an 8-billion-dollar refinery in Lagos, in the south-west of Nigeria.

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The joint project will be operated under the umbrella of a public-private partnership. The refinery will be at the Lekki Free Trade Zone in Lagos.

Statistics show that the Chinese investors will provide 80 per cent of the funding,
leaving 20 per cent to the NNPC.

The Lagos state government will provide infrastructure such as land, electricity, roads and water for the project.

"The project is to the mutual benefits of all the parties," says Billy Agha, NCPP executive
director for engineering and technology.

While the deal was being signed, Lagos state governor Babatunde Fashola said the government does not foresee the Chinese investors causing any hurdles in the project.

When completed, the refinery will produce 300,000 barrels of oil a day. It will also produce 500,000 metric tons of liquefied petroleum gas a year. Some 5,000 construction workers will be employed and 2,000 people will be gainfully employed at the end of it all.

This latest refinery deal is one of the largest of several US and Chinese investments in Nigeria.