Paper short abstract:

The intensification of oil activities in N'gourti has revived appetite among actors involved in the Nigerien oil sector as both national and local levels. This paper aims to understand how local actors develop strategies to capture oil revenues.

Paper long abstract:

Oil production began in June 2008 in the Rural Commune of N'gourti in an atmosphere of doubt and uncertainty as Chinese partners felt were engaging into risk business. At the time oil reserves in Niger were estimated less than 350 million bbl. and the gas only about 10 billion m3.

Four years later, interest in this business grown as new estimates have been made. This development has greatly revived the interest of partners in this sector, at the national and local levels. Thus, several categories of strategic actors or group of actors resort to multiple methods in order to benefit from the income generated by oil. The main objective of this research is to map out the different types of strategies used by these actors to'' capture'' the oil income and analyze their social, political and economic impact on local change. My approach is inspired by that of Behrends, A. (2008) who wanted to demonstrate how the real or supposed existence of oil on the border of Chad-Sudan can influence conflicts in this area. Along similar lines I would like to demonstrate oil revenues or their mere announcement changes the social and political organization of an environment with the participation of the local and national actors.