ECOWAS signs agreement 'backing' Nigeria-Morocco atlantic gas pipeline project

Member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) signed an intergovernmental agreement on Sunday in Freetown backing the Nigeria-Morocco Atlantic gas pipeline, according to a Moroccan and Nigerian statement.

The pipeline is designed to transport up to 30 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas a year from Nigeria and west Africa through 13 West African countries to Morocco, according to a joint statement by Morocco’s hydrocarbons and mining agency ONHYM and Nigeria's state oil firm NNPC.

Of that capacity, 15 bcm a year will be made available to Moroccan and European markets through an existing pipeline that links Morocco to Spain, the statement said.

The pipeline project, agreed to a decade ago between the Moroccan king and the Nigerian president, would run 6,900 km on a hybrid offshore-onshore route and is estimated to cost $25 billion.

The project completed ⁠its feasibility study and front-end engineering design (FEED) stages.

In April, ONHYM told Reuters the pipeline was designed to spur economic integration across West Africa by expanding electricity generation and facilitating industrial and ‌mining ⁠development, while helping Morocco position itself as an energy bridge between Africa and Europe.

The next step will be the signing of a deal between Morocco and gas-rich Mauritania at a later date in the presence of Nigeria’s president, the statement said.