• Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Benin, and Guinea were involved in signing the Memoranda.

Four Memoranda of Understanding for the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline project were signed on Friday, June 16, according to THE Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCLtd.).

The NNPCLtd, the Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (ONHYM) of Morocco, the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL), the Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures of Benin (SNH-Benin), and the Société Nationale des Pétroles of the Republic of Guinea (SONAP) on the other hand, signed the MOUs.

The memoranda, similar to those signed with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on September 15, 2022, Mauritania and Senegal on October 15, 2022, and The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, and Ghana on December 5, 2022, reaffirmed the parties’ commitment to the strategic project, according to a statement from NNPCLtd on Friday, June 16.

The project is anticipated to improve the commercialization of the natural gas resources of the impacted African nations once it is finished and to provide a new alternate export route to Europe.

Representatives of ECOWAS and all the participating nations, including Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, The Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, and Morocco, attended the signings that took place concurrently with the project’s Steering Committee meeting.

The project’s partners thought it would help with expediting access to electricity for everyone, enhancing population living standards, integrating the sub-regions economies, and reducing desertification.

The objectives center on the provision of a stable and sustainable gas supply that complies with Africa’s new environmental commitments and gives the continent a new economic, political, and strategic dimension.

NNPCLtd’s group chief executive, Mele Kyari praised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Nigerian government for entrusting NNPC Ltd. with the important project. Kyari added, “As a commercial enterprise, NNPC Ltd. sees this project as an opportunity to monetize Nigeria’s abundant hydrocarbon resources by expanding access to energy to support economic growth, industrialization, and job creation across the African continent and beyond.”

Amina Benkhadra, the Director-General of ONHYM, added that the event was a constructive step toward achieving total development of Africa by Africans by assuring social and economic growth through energy security and accessibility.

Sédiko Douka, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Infrastructure, Energy, and Digitization, noted that the gas pipeline project was significant because it would improve the region’s capacity for producing and generating electricity, encourage business and agricultural growth, and support the transition to a cleaner energy source.