Nigeria Spends $251M for Chinese F-7 Fighters After Oil Deals

J-7 with weapons Reuters reports that Nigeria’s government has approved a $251 million purchase of 15 fighter and trainer aircraft from China, further strengthening ties between the two countries after a series of significant oil deals. The 12 F-7NI multi-role combat aircraft and three FT-7NI trainer aircraft and associated equipment will be bought from China’s National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corp. The F-7/J-7 is an upgraded version of the Soviet MiG-21 interceptor, with modernized avionics and weapons and a slight cranked-wing configuration. Reuters also notes that: “On the oil front, Nigeria has made efforts to develop ties with China partly as a new market for its high-quality crude and partly because it hopes to attract Chinese investment into its malfunctioning refineries and power plants. For its part, energy-hungry China has shown a growing interest in Nigeria’s oil assets which make it the eighth-biggest exporter of crude in the world with about 2.4 million barrels per day. Petrochina has signed a deal to receive 30,000 barrels per day from the Nigerian state oil company, while state oil firm CNPC is in talks to take stakes in Nigerian oil exploration blocks in return for infrastructure investment.” See also: * SPX (Nov 18/05) […]