Islamic Development Bank launches proposal to speed up the Morocco-Nigeria gas pipeline project

The Islamic Development Bank launched a request for Proposals for the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment and the land Acquisition Policy Framework for the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline Project.

The request for proposals stated that this evaluation includes 13 countries, namely Nigeria, Morocco, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Gambia, Senegal, and Mauritania.

The request for proposals stated that the project had received financing from the Islamic Development Bank, so that the pipeline is expected to run from the Brass Island station in Nigeria to reach Morocco, to be linked later to the Maghreb-European gas pipeline. The pipeline is expected to operate at a flow rate of 30 billion cubic meters per year.

Morocco said last August it was in support of renewing the Maghreb-Europe pipeline deal after the operating contract runs out in October 2021.

“Morocco’s desire to retain this export route has been expressed clearly and consistently at all levels for more than three years,” the head of the National Office for Hydrocarbons and Mines, Amina Benkhadra said.
She added that the country had discovered “potential resources of gas evaluated by Europa Oil & Gas at 2 billion barrels”, according to MAP.

Algeria said it was able to provide gas to Spain through the Medgaz pipeline, excluding Morocco and the Maghreb-Europe pipeline that runs across the Kingdom and plays a key role in supplying gas to Morocco, following the unilateral decision of the Algerian authorities to sever diplomatic relations with Morocco.

Algeria’s Medgaz gas pipeline will link the Algerian installations of Béni Saf to the port of Almería in Spain, passing under the Mediterranean Sea, of a capacity of 8 billion m3, and is far behind the capacity of the gas pipeline passing through Morocco (13.5 billion m3).

Morocco and Nigeria have already announced the Gas Pipeline project in 2016, aiming to link natural gas wells in Nigeria and other countries with Morocco. In 2018, this project was signed through bilateral cooperation agreements.

According to this project’s details, the countries that have gas fields will pump their production into the pipeline, while other non-gas-producing countries will benefit from it for development purposes. The pipeline is expected to extend at a length of about 5,660 km.

It is expected that the work of studying the environmental and social impact and the policy of land expropriation will start in the first quarter of 2022, and extend for a period of about 12 to 14 months, in line with the legal and regulatory requirements of the concerned countries.

The concerned companies with the request for proposals have to express their interest in writing before October 29 and send it to the National Office for Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM) in Rabat.