Nigeria, Morocco renew commitment to gas pipeline project

The governments of Nigeria and Morocco have re-affirmed their commitment to the construction of the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline project. The Royal Cabinet of Morocco revealed the report and said that that King Mohammed VI and Muhammadu Buhari, the President of the Republic of Nigeria affirmed the commitment.

The Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline was conceived back in December 2016 through an agreement between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Moroccan Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (National Board of Hydrocarbons and Mines) (ONHYM).

The pipeline will connect Nigerian gas to every coastal country in the West Africa region i.e. Benin, Togo, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gambia, Senegal, and Mauritania, and end at Tangiers, Morocco, a distance of about 5,660 kilometers.

Read: Nigeria to receive $2.6bn loan for Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano Gas Pipeline project

Improve access to energy

The gas pipeline will be be an extension of the existing West African Gas Pipeline, which already connects Nigeria with Benin, Togo, and Ghana and will also be connected to the existing infrastructure in order to serve Spain through Cádiz.

The project is planned to be completed in stages over a 25 years period. Feasibility studies on the project were already carried out and completed in 2019 by the NNPC and ONHYM.  The two countries also contracted with Penspen Engineering Company to conduct the first phase of front-end engineering and design. By March last year, the front-end engineering & design had entered the second phase.

Upon completion, the gas pipeline is expected to improve access to energy across the West Africa region. This will help address one of the region’s most significant barriers to development, which is the lack of affordable energy, and consequently facilitate the expansion of sectors ranging from industry to food processing and fertilizers, and improve the competitiveness of exports amongst the African countries. In addition, the project will strengthen energy exports to Europe.