July 20 — Member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) signed an intergovernmental agreement on Sunday in Freetown supporting the Nigeria-Morocco Atlantic gas pipeline, according to a joint statement from Morocco and Nigeria.
The pipeline is designed to transport up to 30 billion cubic metres of natural gas annually from Nigeria and West Africa through 13 West African countries to Morocco, the statement from Morocco’s hydrocarbons and mining agency ONHYM and Nigeria’s state oil company NNPC said.
Of the planned capacity, 15 billion cubic metres a year will be made available to Moroccan and European markets through an existing pipeline linking Morocco to Spain.
First agreed a decade ago by Morocco’s king and Nigeria’s president, the pipeline would extend 6,900 kilometres along a hybrid offshore-onshore route and is estimated to cost $25 billion.
The project has completed its feasibility study and front-end engineering design stages.
ONHYM told Reuters in April that the pipeline is intended to promote economic integration across West Africa by expanding electricity generation and supporting industrial and mining development, while helping Morocco position itself as an energy bridge between Africa and Europe.
The next step will be the signing of an agreement between Morocco and gas-rich Mauritania at a later date in the presence of Nigeria’s president, the statement said.
