Nigeria asserts Russians 'very eager' to invest in Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline project

OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and Russia have expressed a desire to invest in the upcoming Morocco-Nigeria gas pipeline project, Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Timipre Silva informed on Tuesday at a press conference. The ambitious underwater gas pipeline known as the Nigeria Morocco Gas Pipeline project will be the continuation of the West African gas pipeline that will run the gas supply from Nigeria to Ghana and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean. Nigeria is in the process of securing funding during the initial stages of the pipeline project, and “many parties are showing interest," said Silva, according to Russia’s state-affiliated news agency Tass. 

"Nigeria and Morocco are teaming up to build the longest underwater pipeline in the world and the second longest pipeline in the world. It will transport gas from Nigeria to Morocco and Europe through 11 countries in West Africa," Maghreb Arab Press (MAP) reported. 

'Russians very eager to invest in this project': Nigerian minister 

The NMGP gas pipeline is expected to run through a length of 5,660 km. Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the National Administration of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM) of Morocco signed a partnership agreement in June 2018 to start the construction, Tolu Ogunlesi, media adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria informed. "We want to continue this pipeline all the way to Morocco along the coast. We are currently in the research stage,”  Ogunlesi stated. 

“The Russians are very eager to invest in this project, and there are many other parties who are also willing to invest in this project,” Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Timipre Silva told the news conference. “Because this is a gas pipeline through which our gas will be transported through many African countries to the borders of the African continent, where we can access to the European market. OPEC has also expressed interest," he added.

The project’s financial agreements have not been struck yet, according to the Nigerian minister of state’s statement to MAP. "Many people are showing their interest. There is a lot of international interest, investor interest in the project, but we haven't really identified the investors we want to work with," he stressed.

It was learnt last week, that the Moroccan authorities and the OPEC Fund for International Development already signed a document to approve funding of an estimated $14.3 million to launch the second phase of research on the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline. There was also an influx of funding via the Islamic Development Bank, the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Administrative Reform of UAE noted in a statement to MAP. The project, it said, was launched in 2016 by King Mohammed VI of Morocco and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari. It is expected to “improve the competitiveness of the region, activate its socio-economic development, in particular by accelerating electrification and developing the region's energy self-sufficiency, as well as improving the living conditions of the local population."