The federal government through Ekperikpe Ekpo, Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Gas), has assured of uninterrupted gas supplies to the Nigeria – Morocco gas pipeline project.
Ekpo who led a delegation from Nigeria to Rabat, Morocco on Tuesday met with Leila Benali, the country’s Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, and other officials involved in the project.
In a statement signed by Louis Ibah, the Minister’s spokesman, said Ekpo informed his host that President Bola Tinubu was passionate and committed to the success of the project.
The statement also quoted Ekpo as assuring of Nigeria’s commitment to uninterrupted gas supplies – the major feedstock for the project – once it comes on stream.
According to Ekpo, Nigeria currently has 209 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves and potential reserves increase opportunity to 600 trillion cubic feet.
Ekpo said: “His Excellency, President Bola Tinubu is passionate about this initiative and will do everything possible to ensure that we get to the end of it; it is a long-term project but it will succeed. My assurance to you and the people of Morocco is that gas will not be a problem as far as Nigeria is concerned.”
The pipeline is to traverse the Republic of Benin, Togo, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gambia, Senegal, and Mauritania, and terminate in Morocco with a spur to Spain.
Ekpo said Nigeria will play a pivotal role in the marketing of the product within African and the European Union.
“We are fully on track; I will encourage the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco to continue pushing. The two companies that are representing Nigeria and Morocco will also have to work day in, day out to meet the target,” he said.
On her part, Benali, the Moroccan energy minister, thanked Ekpo for supporting the monetisation of gas in Africa.
She also emphasised the strategic importance of the pipeline project to both countries saying it would catalyse regional and continental development.
The meeting between the two countries was held 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.
It would be recalled that the Cooperation Agreement for the 48” x 5,300Km pipeline from Nigeria to Dhaka (Morocco) and 1,700km from Dhaka to Northern Morocco was signed in 2017 with a capacity of 30 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year (the equivalent of 3 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day).
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