Amina Benkhadra, director general, National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM) of Morocco, has said the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline (NMGP) will benefit over 340 million people.
This was disclosed at a conference in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, titled “A New Vision to Accelerate Production and Investment in the Context of Energy Transition.”
According to the Moroccan News Agency, Benkhadra said, “This enormous project that runs through 13 countries would have a direct positive influence on more than 340 million people.”
“All the countries that the pipeline will cross through will be included in the study and development of this project.”
The director general considers that the project, which is currently still in the phase of detailed engineering studies, will contribute to the emergence of the integrated northwest African region.
She added that the project aims to create a competitive regional electricity market, exploit clean energy, and contribute to the industrial and economic development of all the countries it crosses.
Benkhadra said this would be through the development of many sectors such as agriculture, industry and mining, and exporting gas to Europe.
“The length of the gas pipeline will be about 5,660 kilometres, and its cost has been set,” she said.
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“It will be established in several stages to respond to the increasing need of the countries through which it will cross and Europe, during the next 25 years.”
The NMGP project is an offshore and onshore gas pipeline project that aims to transport Nigerian natural gas resources to Morocco via West and North Africa.
In December 2016, Morocco and Nigeria agreed to implement the gas pipeline project linking the two countries during an official visit by King Mohammed VI of Morocco to Nigeria.
The pipeline will pass through Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gambia, Senegal and Mauritania.
In June 2, 2022, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) gave the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), now a commercial entity, the nod to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for the construction of the Nigeria-Morocco Gas pipeline.
The NGMP will be spread over a 25-year period with an initial estimate of over $25 billion.
Meanwhile, the project construction is expected to be concluded in 2046, based on the 25-year estimate given in 2017.
