The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mallam Mele Kyari, has said that working with its partners, the commitment of the national oil company to deliver the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline Project is unwavering.
The NNPC boss said this on Friday in Abuja at the opening session of the ECOWAS Inter-Ministerial Meeting of the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline (NMGP) Project.
The joint meeting was attended by ECOWAS Ministers of Hydrocarbons and Energy, with the participation of Morocco and Mauritania.
The Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline Project is an initiative of the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Kingdom of Morocco and was conceived during the visit of King Mohammed VI of Morocco to Nigeria in December 2016.
The Pipeline Cooperation Agreement for the project was executed in 2017.
The pipeline length of the project is 5,300 kilometers from Nigeria-Dakhla (Morocco) and 1,700 kilometers (onshore) from Dakhla (Morocco)-Northern Morocco.
The pipeline capacity for the project is 30 billion cubic meters per year, which is equivalent to 3.0
billion standard cubic feet per day.
Already, MoUs have been executed for the project with ECOWAS, SMH of Mauritania and Petrosen of Senegal.
The NMGP Project is aimed at monetization of Nigeria’s abundant natural gas resources, thereby generating additional revenue for the country, diversification of Nigeria’s gas export routes, and elimination of gas flaring.
It will also assist in supplying gas to Morocco, 13 ECOWAS countries and Europe, as well as integration of the economies of the sub-region.
Following the Memorandum of Understanding between ECOWAS, NNPC, and ONHYM signed on September 15, 2022, and based on the recommendation of the Ministers responsible for Hydrocarbons, the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of States and Government adopted Decision A/DEC.2/07/23 during its 63rd Ordinary Session held in July 2023 in Bissau.
This Legal Document endorsed the process of merging the West African Gas Pipeline Expansion Project and the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline Project into a single gas pipeline project, running from Nigeria to Morocco and serving all ECOWAS Member States and Mauritania, with a potential future extension toward Europe.
At the same time, Memoranda of Understanding were signed between the project promoters (NNPC and ONHYM) and almost all national oil and gas companies of ECOWAS Member States and Mauritania.
Subsequently, preparatory activities involving all the stakeholders (ECOWAS, ONHYM, NNPC Ltd, national oil and gas companies that had signed MoUs), were conducted, leading to sessions of the Technical Committee, the Project Steering Committee, and meetings with national companies that signed the MoUs.
This inclusive and consensus-based approach resulted in the drafting and review of project governance documents, namely the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA), the Treaty to be signed by all Project Countries and the Host Government Agreement (HGA), through several workshops.
The main objective of the Friday meeting in Abuja was to present to the ministers in charge of Hydrocarbons the latest versions of these community texts and to provide an update on the overall progress of the project, a necessary step to consolidate the involvement of all Member States in the project development process.
Speaking at the event, Kyari, who was represented by the NNPC Ltd’s Executive Vice President, Gas Power & New Energy, Mr. Olalekan Ogunleye said decisions made at the meeting will shape the future of the African Atlantic gas project, ensuring a positive impact on the economics of the region’s nation and the lives of the people.
He described the event as a very important milestone in the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline Project as it reaffirms the commitment of stakeholders to deliver on the project.
He explained further that the NNPC is well positioned to progress the project by leveraging on its experience and technical capabilities ranging from gas production, processing, transmission and marketing as well as its vast experience in executing major gas infrastructure projects in Nigeria.
From the inception of the project to this stage, Kyari said concerted efforts have been made by the government of Nigeria and the Kingdom of Morocco, which led to the very commendable achievements recorded so far.
He said, “Today, we come together to make significant progress in the African Atlantic gas pipeline project, perhaps the largest African project, a transformative initiative that promises to connect at least 13 African nations in shared prosperity and development.
“First and foremost, we would like to extend our gratitude to His Excellency, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Tinubu and the Nigerian government for entrusting NNPC limited with this very strategic project.
“Decisions made here will shape the future of the African Atlantic gas project, ensuring a positive impact on the economics of our nation and the lives of our people.
“A lot of progress has been made with the front-end engineering design, phase two study now completed and work ongoing for service environmental and social impact assessments and the land acquisition and resettlement.
“These achievements underscore our shared capacity and resolve to bring this partner project to fruition, demonstrating both the project’s viability and our capability for effective execution.
“Supported, of course, by strong regional collaboration, which we continue to appreciate, NNPC is well positioned to progress this project by leveraging on its expertise across that production, processing, transmission and marketing and experience having executed similar projects.”
The NNPC Ltd Boss said through this collaboration with its regional partners, the NNPC is committed to ensuring reliable gas supply, robust backbone infrastructure and other key enablers.
“Therefore, we rely on your continued commitment and collaboration to drive the success of the African Atlantic gas pipeline project,” he concluded.
ENDS