6,000 kilometers long, the structure should cross thirteen African countries and supply landlocked states such as Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali.
A memorandum of understanding on a gas pipeline project linking Nigeria to Morocco, and which should also supply West Africa and Europe, was signed Thursday, September 15 in Rabat, we learned from a source. official.
The memorandum on the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline (NMGP) project was initialed by the leaders of the National Nigerian Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), the Moroccan Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM) and a senior official of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in charge of energy, according to a joint press release. The signed text “confirms the commitment of ECOWAS and all the countries crossed to contribute to the feasibility of this important project” , according to the press release.
The project, for which no timetable has been established, is taking place in a geopolitical context marked by strong international demand for gas and oil and soaring prices after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Several countries, particularly European ones, are seeking to reduce their dependence on Russian deliveries.
6,000 kilometers long, the Nigeria-Morocco project will cross thirteen African countries along the Atlantic coast and supply the landlocked states of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali, according to the press release. It should enable the delivery of more than 5,000 billion m 3 of natural gas to Morocco. From there, it will be directly connected to the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline (GME) and the European gas network.
A competing trans-Saharan gas pipeline megaproject
The signing of the memorandum on the NMGP, announced at the end of 2016, comes against a backdrop of heightened regional rivalry between Morocco and Algeria, the leading African exporter of natural gas and the 7th in the world.
The crisis between the two Maghreb heavyweights culminated with the breaking of their diplomatic relations in August 2021 at the initiative of Algiers. Following this rupture, Algeria deprived Rabat of its gas by closing in October the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline transporting Algerian gas to Spain and passing through Morocco. Since then, Rabat has sought to diversify avenues to cover its needs.
At the end of July, the Algerian, Nigerian and Nigerien energy ministers signed a memorandum of understanding to materialize a competing megaproject of the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline (TSGP), more than 4,000 kilometers long, in order to transport gas Nigerian to Europe via Niger and Algeria. No date was given on the completion of the trans-Saharan.
