FG, Morocco in talks to advance gas pipeline project

In a bid to fast-track the process of achieving the Final Investment Decision (FID) on the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline, the Federal Government has intensified discussions with Morocco.

The discussion, which was held on the sidelines of a meeting between the 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 NNPC Ltd.’s Executive Vice President, Gas, Power, and New Energy, Mr. Olalekan Ogunleye, and the Director General of the Morocco National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM), Mme Amina Benkhadra.

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 2022.

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 order to stem energy poverty on the African continent.

The Cooperation’s Agreement for the 48” x 5,300 km 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 metres (bcm) per year (equivalent to 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-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 treaty and host government agreements, the establishment of a pipeline higher authority, and alignment with the AU, UN, and other relevant international bodies.

The project, among other things, will help drive the monetization of Nigeria’s gas resources, maintain NNPC Ltd.’s energy leadership in Africa, and promote economic and regional cooperation among African countries.

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