BY FESTUS OKOROMADU
The group chief executive officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, has disclosed plans by the company to embark on the building of a new $8 billion international gas pipeline.
Kyari disclosed this while speaking as a panelist at the 8th Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries International Seminar in Vienna, Austria.
The new project, Kyari said is expected to cost $8 billion pipeline, and would pass through Niger Republic, Algeria, and eventually end up in Europe.
Currently, a $25 billion Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline is being built by NNPCL and its partners.
It will carry gas from Morocco to Europe and send gas from Nigeria to around 11 African nations.
Speaking in a roundtable conversation at the seminar titled “Eradicating Energy Poverty, Kyari said, “We are building a $25bn pipeline from Nigeria to Morocco through 11 West African countries. There’s another pipeline we are planning to build through Niger Republic, and through Algeria into Europe also, and the potential is between $7bn and $8bn.
“We are also expanding our current LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) facility with another train. And, of course, what that does is that it doubles the capacity of the current facility and this is going to be made available to the market.”
Nigeria is the largest producer of gas in West Africa, possessing huge gas reserves of about 209.5 trillion cubic feet as of 2022.
On Friday, June 16, 2023, the NNPCL rekindled the prospect of reviving the Nigerian – Morocco gas pipeline with the signing of agreement with four other West African national oil companies collaborating on the project.
The gas pipeline project is aimed at transporting gas from Nigeria to Morocco and European countries and would require a minimum investment of $25 billion for its completion.
Once completed, this pipeline is expected to deliver approximately 3 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day and become one of the longest pipelines in the world.
Meanwhile, Morocco is currently facing a significant surge in energy demand attributed to rapid industrialization and population growth.
The agreement between NNPC, ONHYM, and four West African national oil companies would aid in meeting this rising demand.
This, in turn, would bolster Nigeria’s export earnings, government revenue and strengthen the value of the naira.
Experts affirm that the increase in Nigeria’s gas exports will have a positive impact on her trade position, as the commodity accounts for 9.59% of the country’s exports in Q1 ’23. More importantly, the pipeline will foster closer regional cooperation and integration among the West African nations involved and promote economic ties, trade, and investment.
