AA / Alger / Aksil Ouali
The Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline megaproject to cross 16 West African countries is beginning to take shape.
A Memorandum of Understanding confirming the realization of this project was signed on September 15 in Rabat.
The signing ceremony was held in the presence of the representative of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Sédiko Douka, the Commissioner for Infrastructure, Energy and Digitalization of Nigeria, Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari, the President Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited “NNPC” and the Managing Director of the National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM) of Morocco, Amina Benkhadra.
According to a joint press release made public following the signing ceremony, this Memorandum of Understanding “confirms the commitment of ECOWAS and all the countries crossed by the gas pipeline to contribute to the feasibility, technical studies, the mobilization of resources and the implementation of this important project which, once completed, will supply gas to all the countries of West Africa and will also allow a new export route to Europe “.
“This strategic project will contribute to the improvement of the standard of living of the populations, the integration of the economies of the region, the mitigation of desertification thanks to a sustainable and reliable supply of gas through the reduction or elimination of gas flaring among other induced effects”, specified the same source.
The project, said the same source, involves sixteen countries including fourteen ECOWAS members, specifying that it “will facilitate other countries to export their surplus natural gas: Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and Mauritania”.
Announced several months ago, this Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline project will run along the West African coast from Nigeria, passing through Benin, Togo, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania to end in Morocco.
In the long term, the statement said, it will be connected to the Maghreb Europe Gas Pipeline (abandoned by Algeria since November 2021, editor’s note) and to the European gas network. It will also have to supply the landlocked States, in this case Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
According to Commissioner Sédiko Douka, who represented the ECOWAS Commission on behalf of its President, the Economic Community of West African States “is convinced of the viability of the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline project and will spare no effort for its achievement”.
“We are convinced as a regional economic community of the viability of this project which represents a great opportunity and we will spare no effort for its success”, he assured.
The ECOWAS Commissioner also reiterated, on behalf of the President of the ECOWAS Commission, his full support for this regional project which will positively impact the lives of more than 400 million people.
“The impact of this project is very significant since it will ensure the supply of electrical energy to the West African zone, and in the long term the export of natural gas as fuel in Europe. We have followed from start to finish the entire progress of the feasibility studies in the different validation phases”, he underlined.
According to him, the next stage relates to the detailed studies of execution, to the mobilization of the resources and finally to the phase of the construction itself.
Once launched, the project will be marketed to attract public and private investors, including multilateral or commercial banks, pension funds, insurance companies, among others.
The 6,000 km long project is expected to cost $25 billion. Several stakeholders are expected to ensure the financing component.
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