On October 27, an oil refinery jointly invested by CNPC and Nigerian governmentstarted to be built near Niger's second city, Zinder. Niger PresidentMamadouTandja presided over a ceremony to lay the foundation stone for the construction of the refinery to process locally produced oil.
The Zinder Refinery isthe first one in Niger, with a capacity to process one million tons per annum,and will be built over three years.