Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline

This article is part of the Global Fossil Infrastructure Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

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Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline is a proposed gas pipeline.

Location

The pipeline would be an extension of the existing West African Gas Pipeline, which runs from Lagos, Nigeria, connecting to Cotonou, Benin; Lomé, Togo; and Tema and Takoradi, Ghana. The Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline would additionally connect to Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire; Monrovia, Liberia; Freetown, Sierra Leone; Conakry, Guinea; Bissau, Guinea-Bissau; Banjul, Gambia; Dakar, Senegal; Nouakchott, Mauritania and Tangiers, Morocco with possible extension to Europe through Cádiz, Spain.

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Project details

• Owner: Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC); Moroccan Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (ONHYM)
• Parent company: Governments of Nigeria and Morocco
• Capacity: 30 billion cubic m/year
• Length: 5,660 km
• Status: Proposed
• Start year: 2046
• Cost: US$25 billion

Background

The Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline was proposed in a December 2016 agreement between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Moroccan Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (National Board of Hydrocarbons and Mines) (ONHYM). The pipeline would connect Nigerian gas to every coastal country in West Africa (Benin, Togo, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gambia, Senegal, and Mauritania), ending at Tangiers, Morocco, and Cádiz, Spain. It would apparently be an extension of the existing West African Gas Pipeline, which already connects Nigeria with Benin, Togo, and Ghana.

In August 2017, NNPC and ONHYM began a feasibility study for the pipeline. The pipeline is estimated to cost US$25 billion, and would be completed in stages over 25 years. Morocco is reportedly pushing Nigeria to pursue this pipeline rather than the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline, arguing that the latter would have to pass through a region with significant militant activity.

NNPC and ONHYM completed the feasibility study for the construction of the pipeline in January of 2019. In the same month, the two countries contracted with Penspen to conduct the first phase of front-end engineering & design. In August 2019, NNPC and ONHYM presented the pipeline proposal at a special meeting of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS); the Director of Energy and Mining of ECOWAS spoke positively of the project. However, according to analysts at Fitch Solutions Macro Research, NMGP "faces a myriad of challenges and is 'unlikely to materialize in the short or medium-terms.'"

By March 2020, according to Africa Intelligence, the front-end engineering & design had entered the second phase. In June 2021, there were reports that pipeline construction had begun, and in May 2022 it was reported that the project was in the initial technical design stage. However, evidence still seems to suggest that the pipeline is in a pre-construction phase, so it is still considered proposed.

In May 2022, it was reported that the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) planned to contribute US$14.3 million to fund the implementation of the second phase of the pipeline's FEED (front-end engineering design)study, to thoroughly plan the project before cost and financing estimates could be finalized. The Australian engineering company WorleyParsons Limited was contracted to carry this out via its subsidiary Intecsea, based in The Hague, Netherlands. Project management consultancy services for front-end engineering and design second phase have been awarded to ILF Consulting Engineers and joint venture partner DORIS Engineering

Upon completion, the gas pipeline will be the world's longest offshore pipeline second longest pipeline overall. Based on the 25-year estimate given in 2017, construction will be completed by 2046. In June 2023 it was reported that Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Guinea, and Benin had signed agreements with Morocco and Nigeria to participate in the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline project. The signing ceremony took place at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria, alongside the steering committee meeting for the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline project, which was attended by representatives from ECOWAS and all the relevant countries. Following this development, a total of ten states are now involved in the project, building upon the agreements previously signed with ECOWAS, Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, and Ghana.

In August 2023, it was reported that the coup in Niger posed a threat to the project.The coup in Niger has heightened tensions between Eastern and Western influences in Africa as the new leader has halted exports to France.