Bonny Island Bet: Best Option Chemical Signs MoU With China's CNCEC for KSh 454.34B Methanol PlantBonny Island Bet: Best Option Chemical Signs MoU With China's CNCEC for KSh 454.34B Methanol Plant

The agreement, announced on 18 October, is a memorandum of understanding rather than a final investment decision, and officials involved say so plainly. That distinction matters for investors and farmers alike, because Nigeria has a long list of announced petrochemical projects and a much shorter list of plants that have actually been built.

What the MoU covers

Best Option Chemical Limited is the promoter, and China National Chemical Engineering Company (CNCEC) is named as the engineering contractor and financier. Best Option Chemical's chief executive, Mr Okafor, says CNCEC is ready to finance 80% of the project, which on the stated cost would be about KSh 363.47B ($2.8B). The remaining share has not been allocated publicly.

Rivers State Investment Promotion Agency Director-General Chamberlain Peterside, whose agency facilitated and witnessed the signing, described the step in measured terms. "MoU is the first step. It's not a final partnership agreement, neither is it a final investment decision," he said.

The document itself is a preliminary arrangement to acquire a 500-hectare site owned by a local landowner, Sene Kalada Jumbo, who says he wants to take part on an equity basis. Okafor says NNPC Limited is also involved alongside a local investor, though no terms have been disclosed.

Scale, gas and the promised returns

According to Okafor, the plant would turn about 270 million standard cubic feet of gas a day into between 1.4 million and 2.8 million tonnes a year of end products such as urea fertiliser, polypropylene or methanol. He puts export earnings at no less than KSh 194.72B ($1.5B) a year and import savings at about KSh 25.96B ($200M) a year.

Construction would take three to five years and employ 15,000 to 30,000 people temporarily, with up to 5,000 permanent jobs once running. These are the promoter's projections; no independent feasibility study has been published, and the gas supply deals are described as long-term but are not yet public.

Bonny was chosen over Ahoada and Onne, partly because of a newly commissioned road, proximity to gas and the sea, and what Okafor calls restored peace in Rivers State. The conversion used here is KSh 129.81 to the dollar, and the plant's cost is about ₦4.66 trillion at the official naira rate quoted for 16 October.

Why it matters beyond Rivers State

Nigeria's gas, fertiliser and refining ambitions are drawing large sums at the moment. As Mwenendo earlier reported on Dangote's refinery share offer, the Dangote refinery and petrochemicals company is seeking about KSh 207.90B ($1.6B) from investors in Lagos, a sign of how much capital the sector is competing for.

For East African buyers, the picture is less clear. Neither the promoter nor the state agency has said where the fertiliser or methanol would be sold, so any benefit for Kenyan farmers or importers cannot yet be established.

Mwenendo's reporting on Kenya's petcoke power talks shows how quickly energy-linked industrial plans in Africa can move from announcement to negotiation, and how often they stop there.

What remains to be settled

Next steps are a final agreement and a final investment decision, along with a land survey by the Ministry of Lands and an environmental impact assessment by the Ministry of Environment. A ground-breaking date has not been set.

Readers following Nigeria's economy can also see the wider backdrop in Mwenendo's report that headline inflation eased to 14.63% in September, which shapes the cost of financing at home. Until financing is confirmed in writing, the Bonny Island plant remains an intention, not a project.