On Thursday, 15th September 2022, the NNPC Ltd will sign a memorandum of understanding with Morocco for a 7,000 kilometre gas pipeline project.
The signing will be with the supervision of ECOWAS, and the pipeline will originate from Nigeria.
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NNPC made this known via a statement on Tuesday, citing it’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari.
Mele Kyari is reported to have said this when he paid a visit to the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr Omar Touray in Abuja.
The statement read in part that “The visit was in preparation of the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the NNPCL, Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (ONHYM) of Morocco and the ECOWAS on 15 September, 2022 in Rabat, Morocco.”
The statement also said NNPC and ONHYM will also sign two MoUs with Société Mauritanienne des Hydrocarbures (SMH) of Mauritania and Petrosen of Senegal, both of whom are expected to participate in the project.
The pipeline is expected to provide gas to West African countries through to the Kingdom of Morocco and subsequently to Europe.
Once completed, the project will supply about 3 billion standard cubic feet per day (scfd) of gas along the West African coast from Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Cote D’ Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Gambia, Senegal and Mauritania to Morocco.
The new pipeline will be an addition to the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP), which is a natural gas pipeline running from Nigeria to Benin, Togo and Ghana.
The 678km pipeline was commissioned 2006, starts at Itoki terminal in Lagos Nigeria, runs through the waters of Benin, Togo and Ghana to terminate in Takoradi Ghana. The onshore section of the pipeline connects the offshore section compressor station at Lagos Beach with the Chevron-owned Escravos-Lagos Pipeline system that has been operational since 1989.
On 28 July 2022, the Algerian Minister of Energy and Mines, Mohamed Arkab, Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva and Nigerien Minister of Energy and Renewable Energy, Mahamane Sani Mahamadou signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the implementation of the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline (TSGP) project.
The 4,128 kilometres TSGP will start in the Warri region in Nigeria and run north through Niger to Hassi R’Mel in Algeria. In Hassi R’Mel the pipeline will connect to the existing Trans-Mediterranean, Maghreb-Europe, Medgaz and Galsi pipelines.
Nnamdi Maduakor is a Writer, Investor and Entrepreneur
