Gas Pipeline: Nigeria, Morocco to Seal Agreements With Senegal, Mauritania

Mele Kyari, CEO of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), visited on Tuesday the headquarters of the Economic Community of Western African States (ECOWAS) in preparation for Thursday’s signing of Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with representatives of the regional bloc and energy companies from Morocco, Senegal, and Mauritania.

Rabat – Mele Kyari, CEO of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), visited on Tuesday the headquarters of the Economic Community of Western African States (ECOWAS) in preparation for Thursday’s signing of Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with representatives of the regional bloc and energy companies from Morocco, Senegal, and Mauritania.

“In line with Federal Govt’s mandate to drive the execution of the 7000km Nigeria Morocco Gas Pipeline (NMGP) Project, GCEO [of] NNPC limited Mele Kyari today paid a courtesy call on the President ECOWAS Commission, Omar A. Touray,” NNPC tweeted on Tuesday evening.

On September 15, NPPC will sign an MoU with Morocco’s National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM) in Rabat, the tweet specified.

The Moroccan and Nigerian authorities will conclude two additional agreements with Mauritania’s Hydrocarbons Company (SMH) and Senegal’s Petrosen which are also set to take part in the transnational energy project.

The $25 billion project extends over 1,672 km, connecting Nigerian gas to Europe through Morocco, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Gambia, Senegal, and Mauritania. The project is expected to be built over six phases and to be fully operational by the 2040s.

The project was first conceived in 2016 but it has recently made headlines amid skyrocketing energy prices and shrinking European gas supplies following the war in Ukraine.

Amid the prevailing context of a severe energy crisis, Nigeria and Morocco have urged European partners to invest in the transnational pipeline at a time when the European bloc is looking for alternative suppliers to reduce its reliance on Russian fossil fuels.

Besides bringing energy security to Europe, the Morocco-Nigeria pipeline will have other benefits, said NNPC, noting that the project is aimed at “improving the living standards of people, integration of the economies within the Sub-region and mitigating against desertification through sustainable & reliable gas supply.”