Over 4,000 km long, the TSGP will transport Nigerian gas to Europe, where several countries are seeking to reduce their dependence on Russian deliveries.
The Algerian, Nigerian, and Nigerien energy ministers signed, Thursday, July 28, a memorandum of understanding for the realization of the trans-Saharan gas pipeline project (TSGP) which will allow Nigerian gas to be transported to Europe, according to the official agency Algeria Press Service (APS).
The TSGP should eventually transport billions of cubic meters of Nigerian gas to Algeria via Niger. Algeria will then be able to send Nigerian gas to European Union countries via Transmed, which links the country to Italy via Tunisia, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) transported by LNG carriers.
During the third Algeria-Niger-Nigeria tripartite ministerial meeting, Thursday in Algiers, the Algerian Minister of Energy and Mines, Mohamed Arkab, and his counterparts from Nigeria, Timipre Sylva, and Niger, Mahamane Sani Mahamadou, signed the memorandum of understanding after discussing aspects of the project, including its progress, according to APS. For the moment, no indication has been given on its completion date.
When launched in 2009, the investment cost of the TSGP was estimated at $10 billion. With a length of 4,128 km, including 1,037 km in Nigerian territory, 841 km in Niger, and 2,310 km in Algeria, this gas pipeline will also supply the countries of the Sahel.
This project was reactivated in a geopolitical context marked by strong international demand for gas and oil and by a surge in prices after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia at the end of February. Several countries, particularly European ones, are seeking to reduce their dependence on Russian deliveries and have turned to Algeria.
The country, whose proven reserves of the natural gas amount to nearly 2,400 billion cubic meters, provided around 11% of the gas consumed in Europe before the war in Ukraine, against 47% for Russia. It is the first African exporter of natural gas and the seventh in the world.
