Nigeria signs $4.5bn oil refining deal with Vulcan

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. – BBC