Niger’s Oil Minister has announced a new development towards the realization of the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline (TSGP), a project linking his country to Algeria and Nigeria.
The TSGP project is back on track. At the end of a meeting held last week in Abuja, Nigeria, with his Algerian and Nigerian counterparts, Niger’s Minister of Petroleum, Mahamane Sani Mahamadou, expressed his satisfaction with the progress of the TSGP. Niger “has taken a new step in the opening of the national and regional gas market thanks to the progress of the project of the construction of the trans-Saharan gas pipeline (TSGP) of several billion dollars alongside Algeria and Nigeria,” he said in a statement of the African Energy Chamber.
The three countries confirm their willingness to relaunch this project which has been at half-mast for several years. The June 20 meeting follows the one held in Niamey in February 2022. The parties had established a working group and a roadmap for the development of the TSGP, recalled the communiqué.
The 4128 kilometers long trans-Saharan pipeline would originate in Nigeria and cross Niger to reach the Algerian coast for export to Europe. Responsible for updating the feasibility study of the project, a steering committee composed of three ministers and CEOs of national oil companies (NOC) “will meet in late July 2022 in Algiers to discuss the way forward with the TSGP project,” the statement added.
The document stressed that the TSGP “will bring significant benefits to Niger. With over 34 billion cubic meters of gas, Niger, in its own right, has the potential to become a gas exporter, and with the expansion of energy links between Europe and Africa, the TSGP project will mark a new era of enhanced regional cooperation in Africa, strengthening gas monetization and exports while increasing exports from Niger to Europe via Algeria.”
Ultimately, the pipeline is expected to allow for the exchange of “up to thirty billion cubic meters of natural gas each year, improving regional and international energy trade, enabling Niger to expand the role of natural gas in its energy mix and combat energy poverty. With this project, too, the Sahelian country “seeks to improve access to electricity and ensure energy affordability through increased gas exploitation, the TSGP initiative will be a game changer.”
ODL/cgd/lb/abj/APA