The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPCL) and Morocco's National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM) are due to jointly finance the $25 billion Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline in equal shares, authorities have announced.
Mallam Mele Kyari, NNPCL managing director, stated that the project is already in Phase II of the preliminary research and is currently undergoing an environmental impact assessment – as well as rights-of-way investigations.
According to him, NNPCL is making use of Nigeria's vast natural gas reserves, which comprise more than 5,6 billion cubic meters. It could grow to around 17 billion cubic meters, he stressed, as an increase in investment is expected after a number of production-sharing contract disputes with partners are resolved.
He claimed that the huge reserve will provide a boost to energy and industrial sectors. Kyari also underlined that it will provide a low-carbon energy alternative and help reduce the carbon footprint, fighting unemployment and poverty.
The managing director also stated that his country's gas infrastructure network is capable of transporting about 195 million cubic meters of gas to enable power generation.
Project at an Advanced Stage
The gas pipeline is one of the projects linking Nigeria and Morocco through several West African countries.
Several memoranda of understanding have been signed in recent months – the first between the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Nigeria and Morocco, and two others between Morocco, Nigeria and Mauritania on the one hand, and Morocco, Nigeria and Senegal on the other. Five more trilateral memoranda of understanding have been signed by Morocco and Nigeria, on the one side, and Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Ghana, on the other.
In accordance with the project, the pipeline will run along the West African coast from Nigeria, through Benin, Togo, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gambia, Senegal and Mauritania to Morocco.
It will also supply nearby Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali and will be connected to the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline and the European gas network.
The project is expected to cover approximately 5,600 km through 11 African countries and set a record as the longest offshore gas pipeline in the world.