A spokesperson with the Ivory Coast government, Bruno Nabagne Kone , said that the states will organize debt relief for the state oil refinery using public and private funds. The Societe Ivoirienne de Rafinage (SIR) is the country’s biggest refinery and has accumulated debts worth hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars since 2008, Reuters reported.

SIR’s annual output is currently 3.4m tons. It provides Ivory Coast with nearly all its petroleum products and also supplies neighboring countries. Nigeria is its primary supplier of crude oil and its main purchaser of refined exports, according to Mail Online.

Ivory Coast’s economy has expanded rapidly since a decade of political turmoil ended in 2011. The government says putting the energy sector on a firm footing is key to future growth. Egypt Oil&Gas reported earlier that the Ivory Coast had signed a partnership agreement to create a consortium headed by France’s Total to build a liquid natural gas (LNG) import terminal that could begin receiving gas shipments by mid-2018.