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Tag: China

  • China’s $1.5b loan for Lagos-Ibadan rail ready – Amaechi

    China’s $1.5b loan for Lagos-Ibadan rail ready – Amaechi

    The Federal Government yesterday said it had secured $1.5 billion from the China Exim Bank to begin work on the Lagos-Ibadan rail line project.

    Minister of Transport Rotimi Amaechi said this when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Land Transport, chaired by Gbenga Ashafa, to give a status report of the 2016 budget and also present the 2017 budget.

    Amaechi said the foundation of the Lagos-Ibadan Segment Two of the Lagos- Kano rail project would be laid before March 31.

    He said the target of the Federal Government is to begin work from Apapa sea port to Ogun and then to Ibadan.

    Amaechi said: “In the first quarter of 2017, the foundation of the Lagos-Ibadan Segment Two of the Lagos- Kano rail project will be laid.

    “The implication here is that we will start the Lagos-Ibadan rail line before March 31.

    “Our target is to begin from Apapa sea port down to Ogun and then to Ibadan.

    “The counterpart fund is ready but don’t forget that we are borrowing from China. The China Exim Bank is processing it.

    “Our 15 per cent is ready. The bank has released $1.5 billion.

    “It is also envisaged that Segment Three of the Lagos –Kano rail project, which is Kano-Kaduna stretch, as well as the first phase of the coastal railway line (Lagos-Calabar) beginning from Calabar to Port Harcourt with extension to Onne Deep sea port will begin after the conclusion of the negotiation of a financing loan agreement.”

    He called on the National Assembly to approve the government’s plan to borrow $30 billion.

    The minister said the money to finance some of the rail projects are contained in the $30 billion loan request the government is seeking the National Assembly’s approval for.

    According to him, Nigeria cannot sign any loan agreement with China on rail projects without the approval of the National Assembly.

    Amaechi said all rail projectsnot completed in last year’s budget have been included in the 2017 budget.

    “All these ongoing rail projects not completed last year have been reintroduced into the 2017 budget.

    “The ministry is in the process of procuring additional locomotives and coaches to meet the rising demand of passenger traffic of the Abuja (Idu)-Kaduna (Rigasa) rail line,” he added.

    Ashafa said the committee would work with the minister to consolidate on the achievements and performances recorded last year.

  • Manchester United ready to let Rooney leave for China in February

    Wayne Rooney could be on his way to China next month, with Manchester United ready to sanction a transfer.

    A number of teams in the Chinese Super League, are desperate to land the United captain and are offering him big money.

    It is believed that any potential deal, would see Rooney overtake Carlos Tevez‎’s £650,000-a-week earnings, as the world’s highest-paid footballer.

    Sunday Mirror Sport reports that the move has been approved by manager Jose Mourinho and the club’s hierarchy.

    Although the European transfer window closes on Tuesday, Chinese clubs can keep buying players until February 28. The new Chinese Premier League season starts in March.

    Rooney’s departure was on the cards, as soon as he broke Sir Bobby Charlton’s goal-scoring record this month against Stoke City. He has 18 months left on his current £300,000 a-week contract.

    But the club is looking to cut their losses, as they prepared to lure Antoine Griezmann from Atletico Madrid this summer.

  • Russia beats Saudi Arabia as China’s top crude oil supplier

    Russia overtook Saudi Arabia in 2016 to become China’s biggest crude oil supplier for the first year ever, boosted by robust demand from independent Chinese “teapot” refineries.

    Customs data showed on Monday that Russian shipments surged nearly a quarter over 2015 to about 1.05 million barrels per day (bpd), with Saudi Arabia coming in a close second with 1.02 million bpd, up 0.9 percent in 2016 versus the previous year.

    China is the world’s second-largest oil buyer and the fastest-growing major importer.

    While Saudi Arabia counts China’s state oil firms as backbone clients through long-term supply contracts, China’s independent refineries, nicknamed “teapots” due to their smaller processing capacity, saw Russia as a more flexible supplier.

    For the teapot plants, authorised to import crude oil for the first time in late 2015, shipments from Russia’s Eastern ports are easier to process, coming in smaller cargo sizes at a closer proximity.

    Russia may be able to maintain the top spot in 2017 as it expands exports of its East Siberian-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline blend crude.

    Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is set to shoulder the lion’s share of supply cuts agreed to last year by OPEC and non-OPEC producers.

    “OPEC cuts means Gulf producers take a hit in terms of market share, even though most of their cuts are to Europe and U.S.

    “Russia has an ESPO expansion coming up as well as supplies via Kazakhstan earmarked for China,’’ said Michal Meidan of Consultancy Energy Aspects.

    State-run Saudi Aramco is expected to look to a new refinery under state-run CNOOC to lift sales.

    For December, Russia also held the top spot with supplies up 4.8 percent from the same month a year earlier at 1.19 million bpd.

    Saudi sales dropped nearly 20 percent from a year earlier to 841,820 bpd, data from the Chinese General Administration of Customs showed.

    Total crude oil imports in December hit a record as refiners stepped up purchases ahead of a deal by oil-producing countries to reduce supply and bolster prices.

    For the whole of 2016, imports gained nearly 910,000 bpd over 2015, the strongest annual growth on record and mostly driven by teapot buying.

    Third-largest supplier, Angola, shipped 13 per cent more crude last year versus 2015, while No. 4 seller Iraq recorded similar growth.

    China also boosted imports from South American producers last year with growth of 37.6 percent from Brazil and 26 percent from Venezuela, the data showed.

    Imports from Iran expanded nearly 18 percent last year to a record 624,260 bpd, as Chinese state oil firms started to lift barrels from their investments in Iranian oilfields in addition to term supply agreements.

     

  • Buhari fecilitates with China on Lunar New Year

    Buhari fecilitates with China on Lunar New Year

     

    President Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated the Chinese community in Nigeria and worldwide on the Chinese Lunar New Year which begins on January 28.

    The President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, on Sunday, said the President Buhari had sent the congratulatory message before he proceeded on a short vacation on Thursday.

    In the message, Buhari noted that China has made a series of social and economic achievements during the past few decades.

    He said China has made simultaneous progress in economic, political, cultural, social and bioenvironmental areas, and has achieved average yearly economic growth far above the world’s average.

    He also noted that the country has taken the second place in the world’s Gross Domestic Product ranking.

    Buhari said Chinese people still highly emphasise the concept of family and the opportunity of reunion, much as Nigerians do, describing it as “our shared value.”

    He added, “After 46 years of the establishment of diplomatic relations, Nigeria and China have become close economic, political and cultural partners.

    “During the state visit to China last April, we reached consensus that the two countries should give full play to corresponding development strategies, strong economic complementarity and enormous cooperative potential.

    “I am confident that our strategic partnership will remain extremely successful in the Year of Rooster.

    “May the relations between Nigeria and China have another profitable and affluent year. Happy New Year!”

  • I moved to China in the interest of Nigeria – Mikel

    Super Eagles captain and former Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel has explained his recent move to the Chinese Premier League to team up with Tianjin Teda.

    He said the move was primarily done to aid Nigeria’s push to be at the 2018 World Cup in Brazil.

    Mikel was frozen out of the first team picture by coach of Chelsea Antonio Conte, but the captain of the Nigeria team remained a regular for the national team despite his lack of games at club level.

    Mikel Obi He decided to move to Tianjin Teda on a three year deal in order to get playing time, and despite the fact that he will be getting double his former pay in China, the 29 year old insist the move wasn’t all about money.

    “I could easily have stayed in Chelsea for the remaining six months of my contract but it won’t be in the best interest of my nation, as they need me match fit when the World Cup 2018 qualifiers resume”, Mikel told Owngoalnigeria.com.

    “It wasn’t an easy decision to make but I seriously need matches to stay fit for Nigeria. Nigerians don’t deserve to miss out of the World Cup after back to back failure to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations”.

  • China to bring additional $40 billion investment in Nigeria

    China is investing additional $40 billion in Nigerian economy, its Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr Wang Yi, said on Wednesday at a bilateral meeting with his Nigerian counterpart, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, in Abuja.

    The Minister said China had already invested up to the tune of $45 billion in the Nigerian economy.

    “ Nigeria and China are strategic partners; our relations have been developing well China has already invested or financed a total number of $22billion projects here in Nigeria, another $23billion projects are on-going.

    “In addition, we are also following up another over $40billion of investments which is in the pipeline.

    “Compare with the size, population and market of our two countries, our cooperation still have large potential to be deepened,” he said.

    According to him, in order to achieve further development and prosperity of the two countries, we need to strengthen our political mutual trust, deep complementary between our developments.

    He stressed on the need to further expand practical cooperation and deepen strategic partnership between the two countries.

    He expressed confidence that his visit would be a successful one and play a dual role in further strengthening the strategic partnership between China and Nigeria.

    Yi said the purpose of his visit to Nigeria was to implement the important agreements and cooperation reached between the Chinese and Nigerian presidents.

    He said the visit was also to help work closely with Nigeria to ensure that the outcome of the Forum for China Africa Cooperation summit are well implemented here in Nigeria.

    Onyeama had earlier commended the existing relationship between Nigeria and China noting that the relationship had been strong for many years.

    “I think the level of cooperation with China is extremely high and Chinese government is investing amount of money in Nigeria and probably is going up to $60 to $80 billion and we are extremely happy for that

    He said that at the last meeting in South Africa and the government of China made available the total of $60 billon for Africa and a number of countries including Nigeria.

    The Minister said that he would want to key in and see how much of that could be used to assist in the various projects that we have in this country.

    He explained that President Muhammadu Buhari was in China in 2016 and had a discussion with Chinese Government on various cooperation.

    “We know that in the area of infrastructure which is one of the priority areas and diversification the Programme of this government from oil .

    “Chinese government has been showing a lot of cooperation with us in this area especially in the area of transportation,” he said

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Minister of Transport, Mr Rotimi Amechi was part of the meeting.

  • China launches first commercial rocket mission

    A Chinese rocket successfully sent three satellites into space in the country’s first commercial mission, a media report said on Monday.

    The rocket Kuaizhou-1A (KZ-1A) blasted off from China’s Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in central Gansu province at 12:11 pm (0411 GMT) with three satellites.

    The media report stressed that one of the satellites is expected to be used for land resource and forestry surveying, environmental protection, disaster prevention and relief purposes.

    It added that the other two satellites would test technologies of low-orbit narrow-band communication and data exchange.

    Report says a rocket technology company under the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation is responsible for the mission.

    Experts say the successes of Chinese space programmes are significant for China’s one-party rulers to garner support from the population and to boost international prestige.

    In 2011, the U.S. Congress ruled that Chinese astronauts would not be allowed on the International Space Station because of national security concerns.

    The China National Space Programme aims to launch the core module of China’s own manned space station in 2018 with a goal of completing the station by 2022,’’ it noted.