Algeria sends 1.6m litres of fuel to Niger

Algeria has sent 1.6 million litres of petrol to Niger, with 53 tanker trucks reaching the depot of the Nigerien Petroleum Products Company (Sonidep) in Agadez on Sunday.

Algérie 360 reported that the trucks left the Sbaa refinery in Adrar and carried about 1,600 tonnes of petrol. Of the 53 trucks, 47 can carry 30,000 litres each and six can carry up to 40,000 litres each.

The delivery answered an order from Sonidep, Niger's authorities said. The Algerian side helped the fuel reach its destination faster and more safely.

Why Niger needed the fuel

Niger has faced tension in its supply of petrol and diesel. Hamadou Tini, Niger's minister of petroleum, spoke at the ceremony in Agadez. He pointed to international conflicts, disrupted supply chains and price changes.

Tini said that a country with oil resources does not automatically have autonomy in refined products.

"Access to fuel at the pump requires a complete and consolidated chain. Refining, transport, storage and distribution," the minister said.

Niger's authorities have set up a crisis committee, chaired by the prime minister, to oversee the government response. A technical committee, created by order on 12 October, works through four sub-committees. The aim is to anticipate market tension better and strengthen national monitoring and co-ordination.

Ties between Algiers and Niamey

General Boulama Issa Ibra, governor of Agadez, praised the speed of the shipment and the work of everyone involved. He spoke of the closeness and complicity between Algeria and Niger, and referred to the relations between Abdelmadjid Tebboune, president of Algeria, and Abdourahamane Tiani, president of Niger.

Saadi Ahmed, Algeria's ambassador to Niger, said that President Tebboune decided to send petrol as soon as he learned of Niger's difficulties, without waiting for an official request.

The ambassador also praised Tiani's commitment to a partnership based on mutual trust, respect for national sovereignty and shared strategic interests.

Tini thanked Tebboune, the Algerian government and the Algerian minister of hydrocarbons for making the logistics of the shipment easier, faster and safer.

Earlier shipments and projects

Agreements between Sonatrach and Sonidep provide for Niger to buy petroleum products at very favourable prices compared with international market prices, TSA reported. TSA also reported that several earlier shipments under these agreements, including aviation fuel, had already been made.

Algeria and Niger have also started energy projects, including the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline (TSGP) and joint work on the Kafra oil field. In October, a Sonatrach team dealt with an incident at a well in the Agadem oil field.

A team from the National Agency for the Valorisation of Hydrocarbon Resources (Alnaft) went to the site to modernise the database of Niger's oil sector.

"Our neighbourhood must be a strength, our cooperation a tool for development and our solidarity a concrete answer to the challenges we share. The trucks we are receiving today are part of making this operation a reality," Tini said.