Nigeria, China sign US$23 billion refining deal

Nigeria and China have signed a tentative deal to build three oil refineries in the West African state at a cost of U$23 billion. “This is a deal we need for Nigeria to cut our reliance on imports,” said a senior Nigerian oil official. China hopes to get greater access to Nigeria’s oil reserves with the deal. Currently, China has limited drilling rights in Nigeria, importing just 28,000 barrels a day of Nigerian oil last year out of 4.77 million barrels a day of total oil imports. (May 14, 2010)