Stay Connected
Atlanta Black Star/Africa
AfricaBusinessNewsWorld

Nigeria Signs $4.5 Billion Deal with Vulcan Petroleum for 6 New Refineries

Posted byBy Stan | Published on: CommentsComments (0)

Nigeria has signed a preliminary $4.5bn (£2.9bn) deal with US-based Vulcan Petroleum to build six oil refineries.

The deal could boost refining capacity in the country by 180,000 barrels a day, with two of the refineries due for completion this year.

Nigeria is Africa’s biggest oil producer but its refineries are only able to refine a fraction of this into fuel.

As a result, it is forced to import much of its fuel at great cost.

The memorandum of understanding with Vulcan marked “the beginning of changing our old paradigm of exporting just raw materials and exporting jobs to Western countries,” said Nigeria’s Trade and Investment Minister Olusegun Aganga.

Last week, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan sacked the boss and several other executives of the state oil company, NNPC, after a probe into the industry found $6.8bn had been lost due to fraud in the past two years.

The fuel sector probe was set up in the wake of angry protests in January after the government tried to remove a fuel subsidy.

The government says subsidising fuel cost the country $8bn in 2011.

But the probe found that the government had been paying subsidies on more fuel than the country consumed.

Source: BBC

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way

Related Stories

Back to top