Nigeria and Morocco have signed a memorandum of understanding for the development of a project to pipe gas from Nigeria to Morocco via West Africa and then to Europe.
The agreement will go ahead with the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline project that was signed in Rabat by the two countries and the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS).
This was issued in a joint statement released on Thursday.
The 5,600-km pipeline would traverse 13 African countries along the Atlantic coast.
Once completed, it would be connected to the Maghreb–Europe Gas Pipeline to reach the European gas network, said the Moroccan National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM).
“This memorandum of understanding confirms the commitment of ECOWAS and the involvement of all the crossed countries to contribute to the feasibility of this important project, which will supply gas to all West African countries and will enable a new export route to Europe,” it added.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said the MoU signing was a “significant step in fulfilling the federal government’s drive towards harnessing Nigeria’s abundant gas resources.
“The project will supply about three billion standard cubic feet of gas per day along the West African coast… to Morocco,” the NNPC said in a statement posted on Twitter.
The pipeline would take gas from Nigeria’s Brass island to northern Morocco, where it would be connected to the Maghreb–Europe Gas Pipeline that goes from Algeria to Spain, via Morocco, NNPC added.
