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Doha – In a significant step forward for the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline project, ETAFAT, the company overseeing the project, has officially commenced topographic surveys for the northern section of the pipeline, which includes Morocco, Mauritania, and Senegal.
This announcement follows a meeting between Morocco’s National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
According to ETAFAT, the initial topographic studies for the northern portion have been formally launched and have already reached an advanced stage.
This progress is considered a crucial milestone in the advancement of the project, which aims to connect Africa and Europe in terms of energy supply and provide gas to several countries in both continents, making it the largest project of its kind on the African continent.
The Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline will extend along the West African coast from Nigeria, passing through Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gambia, Senegal, and Mauritania, before reaching Morocco, where it will be connected to the Maghreb-Europe Gas Pipeline and the European gas network.
Read also: Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline: Final Investment Decision Will Be Made in 2024
Many observers anticipate that this project will mark a significant milestone in Africa’s development trajectory, contributing to substantial economic gains and facilitating continental integration.
In his speech on the 47th anniversary of the Green March, King Mohammed VI of Morocco emphasized the importance of this project.
“Considering the special importance I attach to the partnership with West African countries, I consider the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline Project to be more than just a bilateral project between two sister nations. In fact, I want this to be a strategic project that benefits all of West Africa – a region which is home to more than 440 million people,” he said.
“This is a project for peace, for African economic integration and for co-development: a project for the present and for future generations.”
In related news, the Netherlands-based subsea solutions provider, N-Sea, announced in August 2023 that it had started seabed inspections to support the development of the gas pipeline project, with its area of operations extending to West Africa.
Meanwhile, in November last year, Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ekperekpe Ekpo, said that construction work on the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline project, which will further connect Africa to the European market, would begin this year. To ensure the project’s progress, four memoranda of understanding were signed in June 2023, for the $25 billion project.
