Antique Chic

China built a $20 billion oil refinery in Nigeria, and Europe is furious. Nigeria, one of Africa's largest oil producers, had no refinery. For decades, it exported crude and imported gasoline at markup. China's Dangote Oil Refinery in Lagos changed that. Now Nigeria is exporting refined gasoline instead of just raw crude. The refinery is operating at 94% of its 650,000-barrel-per-day capacity, meeting domestic demand with surplus shipped abroad. In March, Nigeria exported approximately 44,000 barrels of gasoline per day. A single shipment of 317,000 barrels reached Mozambique—the first delivery to East Africa. Production is projected to reach 1.4 million barrels per day within three years, making it Africa's largest refinery. For decades, Western oil majors kept Nigeria dependent while extracting crude, refining it abroad, and selling it back at a premium. China built the infrastructure Europe refused to. Now Nigeria controls its own energy supply chain, and European refiners are losing a captive market. This is what economic sovereignty looks like. This shouldn’t surprise any of our subs, we covered this story back in November on DD Geopolitics.

JUST IN - EU blocks funds for key Chinese solar energy parts from Nov 1st, citing "security concerns," as imported inverters could be used to manipulate energy networks and gain unauthorised access to operational data, which could lead "to countrywide blackouts." — FT

🇷🇺🇺🇦 Russia is threatening a "massive missile strike" on Kyiv if Ukraine violates the May 9 ceasefire. May 9 is Victory Day, Russia's most significant military holiday, marking the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany. Putin declared a 3-day ceasefire for May 8-10. Ukraine hasn't agreed to it.