By: Zawya

The $25 billion Nigeria-Morocco Gas project is making headway with the creation of a holding company, according to a senior official. 

“We want to accelerate the next phase after signing the treaty related to the project, with the creation of the holding company overseeing financing and construction,” said Amina Benkhadra, Director General of Morocco’s National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM), in local press comments.

The 6,000km pipeline will deliver 15 to 30 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas, projected to provide energy access to about 400 million people across 13 countries, significantly enhancing regional energy supply. 

It will start in Nigeria and run along the Atlantic coast through Benin, Togo, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gambia, Senegal, and Mauritania before reaching Morocco, where it will connect to the existing Maghreb-Europe Pipeline and European gas networks. The project will also supply gas to three landlocked countries: Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali.

Developers plan to build it in phases, with a holding company overseeing financing and construction, and three separate project companies handling different segments of the route, said a Zawya Projects report in July.

Moroccan officials reported that a new memorandum of understanding was signed between Nigeria’s National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Morocco’s ONHYM, and Togo’s National Gas Company (SOTOGAZ) during the Rabat meetings.

In May, Minister of Energy Transition & Sustainable Development Leila Benali announced that engineering studies were completed, including mapping out plans for the project’s optimal route. She also stated that the UAE has agreed to contribute to funding, alongside other financiers such as the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), and the OPEC Fund.