TheCable

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited says the federal government has intensified talks with Morocco to expedite the process of achieving the final investment decision (FID) on the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline (NMGP).

According to a statement by Olufemi Soneye, chief corporate communications officer, NNPC, the discussion was held on January 24, 2024.

NNPC said the discussion was held on the sidelines of a meeting between Ekperikpe Ekpo, minister of state for petroleum resources (gas), and Leila Benali, Moroccan minister of energy transition and sustainable development.

The discussion was anchored by Olalekan Ogunleye, NNPC’s executive vice-president, gas, power and new energy, and Mme Benkhadra, director-general of the Morocco national office of hydrocarbons and mines (ONHYM).

“The talks focused on how to drive the partnership between the two countries to accelerate the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline Project in line with the series of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) signed between the two countries in Abuja in 2022,” Soneye said.

“Both parties emphasised the strategic importance of the project to the two countries and the entire African continent and the need to drive it to completion expeditiously in line with the objective of stemming energy poverty on the African continent.”

The project, Soneye said, will help foster the monetisation of Nigeria’s gas resources, uphold NNPC’s energy leadership in Africa, and promote economic and regional cooperation among African countries.

In 2017, the Morocco-Nigeria gas pipeline agreement was signed.

Once completed, the project is expected to supply about three billion standard cubic feet of gas per day (3bscf/d) from Nigeria to the Kingdom of Morocco and subsequently to Europe.

It is a 5,600 kilometres gas pipeline project traversing 13 African countries namely Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Gambia, Senegal and Mauritania to Morocco.

The NNPC has signed several agreements with the partner countries, including Morocco and Benin.