Nigeria, April 6 -- The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has signed a contract with Italy's Maire Tecnimont for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery.

The $1.5 billion contract was signed Tuesday by the managing director of the Port Harcourt Refinery, Ahmed Dikko, and the vice president of Tecnimont, Sub-Saharan Africa, Davide Pellizola, respectively for NNPC and Tecnimont.

The signing is the latest indication the contract for the repairs of the 210,000 barrels per-day-refinery has taken off. The Federal Executive Council approved the contract last month, a decision many analysts criticised.

Nigeria has four refineries, owned by the government, but imports basically its refined petroleum products. The approval ...