COTONOU: Landlocked Niger has resumed crude oil exports via Benin after a dispute between the countries halted the flow of oil through a new Chinese-funded pipeline to the West African coast, according to a pipeline company agent and ship tracking data on Wednesday.

The dispute was over Niger’s refusal to lift a ban on imported goods from Benin, leading its coastal neighbour to block exports through the PetroChina-backed pipeline in May. In June, Niger shut off the flow of oil through the pipeline.

An agent with the West African Gas Pipeline Company (Wapco), which operates the pipeline, told Reuters on Wednesday that the Aura M, a Liberian-flagged crude oil tanker, had loaded around one million barrels of oil from Niger at the Benin port on Tuesday.