Friday, April 7, 2023 at 7:46 PM
Abuja – The Nigerian National Oil Company (NNPCL) is to invest $12.5 billion to secure a 50% stake in the $25 billion Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline project.
This historic project is expected to set a record as the world’s longest offshore gas pipeline, covering around 5,600 km through 11 African countries.
The NNPCL and the National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM) are jointly financing the project in equal shares.
NNPCL Managing Director, Mallam Mele Kyari, speaking in Abuja on Thursday, said the company’s gas pipeline project, which will link Nigeria to Morocco, is already in Phase II of the study. detailed design, and is subject to environmental impact assessment and right-of-way surveys.
According to Kyari, the NNPCL is tapping into Nigeria’s huge natural gas reserves, which stand at over 200 billion cubic feet and could reach 600 billion cubic feet, given that it is expected to higher investments due to the recent resolution of production sharing contract disputes with partners.
He indicated that this important reserve will constitute a low-carbon energy alternative which will support the growth of the energy and industry sectors, fight against poverty, reduce the carbon footprint and create more opportunities for job.
He added that Nigeria’s gas infrastructure network has the capacity to transport around 6.9 billion standard cubic feet of gas to support power generation.
The Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline is one of the flagship projects linking the two countries through several West African countries. The studies for this megaproject are at an advanced stage and memorandums of understanding have been signed in recent months.
The first was signed between the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Kingdom of Morocco.
Two others were signed respectively between Morocco, Nigeria and Mauritania, on the one hand, and Morocco, Nigeria and Senegal, on the other.
Five other tripartite memoranda of understanding were concluded respectively and successively between Morocco and Nigeria, on the one hand, and Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Ghana, on the other.
The strategic Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline project, which emanates from the far-sighted vision of His Majesty King Mohammed VI and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, 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 be connected to the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline and the European gas network and will also supply the landlocked states of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali.