The Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva yesterday disclosed that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia are among the international bodies ready to buy into the Morocco-Nigeria Gas Pipeline project.
Commenting on securing funding partners, the minister said that “there is a lot of international investors interest in the project, but we have not really identified investors that we want to go with,” adding that “we have not totally concluded on the financial arrangement.”
“For the moment, the two investors in this project are Nigeria and Morocco, we are the two countries that are ready to come together to develop this pipeline and a lot of other investors are also interested in being involved,” explained Sylva to the press at the Nigerian State House, Abuja, following an official event.
Sylva revealed that the Russians, were with him in a meeting last week and expressed their interest in investing, in addition to OPEC, but the official maintained that the project is still at the level of study, “which will let us know how much investment will be needed for this and every other thing before we can now approach investors that are interested as well.”
According to the minister, the project, which is an extension of the West African Gas Pipeline project and already delivering gas from Nigeria up to Ghana, was still at the level of studies and finding funding partners, to take it to Morocco where it would connect the European market.
Providing an update on the project, Sylva said, “the Nigerian, Morocco gas pipeline is a continuation of the West African Gas Pipeline project, which has already gotten to Ghana, it is already operational connecting Nigeria to the Benin Republic, to Togo, and to Ghana.”
“We want to continue that same pipeline all the way to Morocco down the coast. Right now, we are still at the level of studies, and of course, we are at the level of securing the funding for this project and a lot of people are indicating interest,” he explained.
Gas supplies in Africa are increasingly in the spotlight, as the European Union is looking to suppress its dependence on Russian production, after the military offensive on Ukraine.
Four years ago, King Mohammed VI and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari agreed on the mega project to transport gas along the Atlantic coast, officially activating a 2016 agreement.
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