The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) has signed four additional memorandums of understanding (MoUs) to enable the further implementation of the $25bn Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline project (NMGP project).
According to the Nigerian state-owned firm, the MoUs were signed with Morocco’s National Agency for Mines and Hydrocarbons (ONHYM), Senegal-based PETROSEN, and Mauritania-based SMH. The documents were signed in Nouakchott, Mauritania.
The latest MoUs are a follow-up to the MoU signed by Morocco, Nigeria, and the Economic Community of Western African States (ECOWAS) last month for kick-starting the nearly 5,600km long offshore pipeline.
NNPC group CEO Mallam Mele Kyari said that the integration of Western African economies through the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline project is highly important for the region’s economic growth.
Kyari added that NNPC was committed to converting the gas pipeline project into functional value for all the transit nations.
To be built along the West African coast of Nigeria, the pipeline will traverse via 11 countries such as Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, and Mauritania before reaching Morocco.
Kyari said: “The Nigeria trans-Morocco pipeline is one of the critical decisions we need to take to foster that integration and economic value and it will pass through several countries and I can confirm that ECOWAS has endorsed this project.
“So today’s meeting is in alignment with the national oil companies of Senegal, and Morocco so that we can proceed with this. We are happy this is happening and it is going to add value.”
From Morocco, the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline is planned to be connected to the Maghreb Europe gas pipeline in order to reach the gas network of Europe.
The pipeline project is funded on a 50:50 basis by NNPC and ONHYM.
