The Nigerian Oil Minister, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, announced that the Italian oil company Eni is planning to construct a crude refinery in Nigeria through its Agip subsidiary, Reuters reported.

Kachikwu announced the plan to the media early May after meeting with Eni executives in Abuja. He said that they were able to reach an agreement and they are currently preparing a memorandum of understanding (MoU).

According to Energy Times, the agreement states that the new oil refinery will have a capacity of 150,000b/d.

Nigeria has been aiming to boost investments in the oil sector to reduce the dependence on imported oil products that consume a large portion of the nation’s limited foreign currency reserves. Nigeria’s oil refiners have been suffering from years of neglect that resulted in a decrease in the amounts of fuel production.

Earlier in 2017, the company said that it would intensify the oil and gas exploration in Nigeria and help to revamp the Port Harcourt oil refinery.