The Federal Government has intensified discussions with the Kingdom of Morocco to fast-track the process of achieving the Final Investment Decision (FID) for the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline.
This was disclosed in a statement by the Chief Corporate Communications Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.), Mr. Olufemi Soneye, on Thursday, January 25, 2024.
Mr. Soneye said, the discussion which was held on Wednesday, 24th January 2024, on the sidelines of a meeting between the Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo, and the Moroccan Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, Ms. Leila Benali, was anchored by the NNPC Ltd.’s Executive Vice President, Gas, Power & New Energy, Mr. Olalekan Ogunleye, and the Director General of the Morocco National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM), Mme Amina Benkhadra.
He said, the talks focused on how to drive the partnership between the two countries to accelerate the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline Project in line with the series of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) signed between the two countries in Abuja in 2022.
According to him, both parties emphasised the strategic importance of the project to the two countries and the entire African continent and the need to drive it to completion expeditiously in line with the objective of stemming energy poverty on the African continent.
It would be recalled that the Cooperation Agreement for the 48″ x 5,300Km pipeline from Nigeria to Dhakia (Morocco) and 1,700km from Dhakia to Northern Morocco was signed in 2017 with a capacity of 30 billion cubic meter (bcm) per year (equivalent of 3.0 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day).
The pipeline would traverse the Republic of Benin, Togo, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, and terminate in Morocco with a spur to Spain.
Due to the international nature of the project, the ECOWAS Commission is saddled with the responsibility to, among other things, facilitate inter-governmental treaties and host government agreements, the establishment of Pipeline Higher Authority, and alignment with AU, UN, and other relevant international bodies.
The project, among other things, will help drive the monetisation of Nigeria’s gas resources, maintain NNPC Ltd.’s energy leadership in Africa, and promote economic and regional cooperation among African Countries.
When completed, the 7,000km Gas Pipeline project will enhance the monetisation of the natural gas resources of the affected African countries and also offer a new alternative export route to Europe.
