A Moroccan government official on April 13 announced that an agreement will be signed between Morocco and Nigeria by the end of 2026, to begin the construction of African Atlantic Gas Pipeline (AAGP), which will link Nigerian gas fields through the West African states up to Morocco and then to Spain. The project was detailed in the December 22, 2023 issue of EIR Bringing Nigerian gas to all the West African nations along the Atlantic coast north of Nigeria will contribute to the full electrification of Africa.
Amina Benkhadra, the head of Morocco’s National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM), reported to Reuters on April 13 that the intergovernmental agreement (IGA) that will be signed on the $25 billion AAGP will create an authority for the pipeline to be established in Nigeria, consisting of ministerial representatives from 13 participating countries to provide political and regulatory coordination.
The AAGP has a 6,900-km hybrid offshore-onshore route with a maximum capacity of 30 billion cubic meters (bcm), including 15 bcm which supplies Morocco and supports exports to Europe. The project is supported by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and feasibility study and front-end engineering design (FEED) stages have been completed. Benkhadra said ONHYM and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) will create a project company as a joint venture in Morocco to lead the execution, financing, and construction phase.
The project is designed so that each segment will be developed as a “standalone system” to allow for early value build-up. The first gas from the initial phases is expected in 2031.
