A Chinese state-owned petroleum company has suspended all construction at the Agadem oilfield in eastern Niger after “terrorist” attacks, AFP learnt from the company Wednesday.
The suspension comes after a series of attacks on Niger’s oil infrastructure in recent months, including one claimed by rebels seeking to return the coup-hit Sahel nation’s democratically elected president to power.
The China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) said that “the security situation at the site has deteriorated” after “terrorist groups” carried out a “number of attacks targeting oil projects” on June 12.
“All construction projects on the Agadem site have been suspended and the site’s employees have been placed on leave until the security situation improves,” said a CNPC note dated Sunday seen by AFP.
The Chinese company assured it would pay its employees “a wage in line with the standard leave rate” until the security situation improves.
By noon Wednesday, Niger’s military-led authorities had yet to respond to the decision of CNPC, the country’s principal partner since oil production in Agadem began in 2011.
The oilfield is located more than 1,700 kilometres (1,056 miles) from the capital Niamey, in the eastern desert region of Diffa.
Its crude is exported via a pipeline linking landlocked Niger to the Atlantic ports of neighbouring Benin, which has been targeted by both rebels and other violent groups.
The Patriotic Liberation Front (FPL), which calls for the reinstatement of Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum, claimed it had targeted the pipeline on the night of June 16 “as a first warning to the junta in Niamey”.
Niger’s military rulers confirmed the act of sabotage several days later, denouncing it as a “terrorist act” that was the work of “malicious individuals”.
And on June 12 — the same day the CNPC said Agadem oilfield was targeted — six Nigerien soldiers providing security were killed in the first-ever attack on the pipeline by “armed bandits” in the south, according to the army.
Besides rebel and bandit attacks, the 2,000-kilometre-long pipeline is also at the centre of a diplomatic row between Niger and Benin.
Though the pipeline’s oil is vital to both the Nigerien and Beninese economies, relations between the two West African neighbours have been tense since the July 2023 coup.
Under sanctions imposed by the West African bloc ECOWAS over Bazoum’s ouster, Benin closed the border with Niger.
Benin has since reopened its side of the frontier.
But Niger military rulers have refused to reopen their side “for security reasons” and have cut off the flow of oil through the pipeline.
According to official figures, Niger’s proven oil reserves amount to around two billion barrels.
