Government officials across West Africa have given their full backing for an energy project intended to run through parts of Africa and Europe.
- West African government officials and ECOWAS have officially backed the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline project.
- The pipeline will span 6,800 kilometers, connecting Nigeria to Morocco and eventually Europe through Spain.
- Europe has renewed interest in the project due to heightened energy concerns from Middle East conflicts.
- Key stakeholders are progressing after finalizing technical studies and nearing an intergovernmental agreement.
Supported by the regional authorities that constitute the Economic Community of the West African States (ECOWAS), the project is a gas pipeline extending from Nigeria to Morocco, with the eventual goal of establishing a major infrastructural project to transport fuel to Europe.
On Sunday, in Sierra Leone, leaders from ECOWAS inked an agreement that officially backs the Nigeria-Morocco pipeline project.
The deal gives the pipeline “the essential sovereign foundation to move from a strategic vision to concrete implementation,” the CEO of the NNPC, Nigeria’s top oil company, Bayo Ojulari, said in a statement.
The Nigeria-Morocco project, spanning 6,800 kilometers (4,230 miles), would transport Nigerian gas along the West African coast through 13 countries before connecting to European networks
In June, Europe showed renewed interest in the Nigeria-Morocco Atlantic Gas Pipeline, estimated at $25 billion, and the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline linking Nigeria, Niger and Algeria, valued at roughly $13 billion.
Europe’s interest was a result of the energy concerns that have intensified amid disruptions linked to the conflict in the Middle East.
The project’s primary stakeholders, Nigeria and Morocco, also instituted fresh traction towards the pipeline after they completed important technical studies and came closer to completing a formal intergovernmental agreement.
This traction came as Nigeria reported that it had forfeited an estimated $3.4 billion in potential oil revenue in 2026.
At the time, data from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries shows that Nigeria’s crude output stood at 1.463 million barrels per day (mbpd) in March, well below projections by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, which had targeted up to 1.8 mbpd.
As seen on Bloomberg, Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, and the largest city in Morocco, Casablanca, would serve as headquarters for the project, according to a statement from state-controlled Moroccan energy company ONHYM.
The project was officially unveiled in 2016, during a state visit by King Mohammed VI of Morocco to the late President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja.
Shortly thereafter, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Moroccan authorities launched a feasibility study, which estimated the project’s potential cost at $25 billion.
