Nigeria Invests $12.5 Billion to Fast-Track Morocco Gas Pipeline Project

The Morocco-Nigeria gas pipeline construction project was launched in 2016, but has started to attract the interest of many countries after the energy crisis caused by the Russia-Ukraine war. The feasibility studies of the project are still ongoing, said the Nigerian Minister of Petroleum, Timipre Sylva. Nigeria, the gas giant of West Africa with reserves of 5.66 billion cubic meters, intends to supply about 3 billion cubic meters of gas per day as part of this "strategic and successful project for all the countries" in the region.

For King Mohammed VI, this project is "a plan for peace, African economic integration and co-development for present and future generations." Not only will the Morocco-Nigeria gas pipeline supply African countries, but it will also serve Europe via the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline, explains Malam Mele Kyari of NNPC. The pipeline will start from Nigeria, cross Benin, Togo, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, Gambia, Senegal and Mauritania before reaching Morocco, recalls Atalayar.

The kingdom will host 1,672 kilometers of pipeline to supply Portugal and Spain, which would help reduce their dependence on Algerian gas. But this challenge is not about to be met, as the project’s start date remains unknown so far. The reason is that the project requires colossal investments that will soon be finalized, promises the CEO of NNPC, announcing the construction of a power plant in Kaduna and Kano to reduce the environmental impacts of the project and the complete rehabilitation of its pipeline network to transport significant quantities of hydrocarbons to Europe.