The Nigerian government has given approval for the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Ltd to enter into agreement with ECOWAS for the construction of the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline.
Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, told State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday in Abuja that the project, which was approved by the FEC, was still at the point of the front end engineering design after which the cost would be determined.
According to Sylva, the pipeline will traverse 15 West African countries to Morocco and Spain.
He explained that the FEC granted approval for the NNPC Ltd to execute the MoU with ECOWAS for the construction of the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline, which will take gas to 15 West African countries and to Morocco and from Morocco to Spain and Europe.
According to local media reports on Thursday, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari agreed four years ago to move ahead with the mega-project to carry gas along the Atlantic Coast, after an initial deal was signed in 2016.
Under the deal, both countries plan to extend the pipeline that has been pumping gas from Nigeria to Benin, Togo and Ghana since 2010.
The reports added that plans for a pipeline to take Nigeria’s gas resources to North Africa had long been discussed and Algeria has also held talks with Nigeria for a similar project crossing the Sahel region.
GIK/APA