Nigeria Fully Adheres To The Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline Project

The Moroccan authorities have sustained a new telling blow, with the Nigerian government declaring its utter commitment to the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline project, linking this country to southern Europe through Algeria and Niger, implicitly announcing the “demise” of the Nigeria-Europe gas pipeline project meant to go through West Africa and Morocco.

The President of the Nigerian National Oil Corporation, Mr Mykanti Kakala Barrow, and the Coordinator of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) in Nigeria, Ms. Gloria Akobondo, jointly announced that the Nigerian Government is still fully committed to the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline project, which extends along 4,128 km, and costs between 10 and 12 billion dollars.
Moroccan King Mohammed VI signed an agreement with Nigerian President Mohamed Boukhari last December to achieve a pipeline that will funnel Nigerian gas to Europe via West Africa and Morocco, in defiance of another gas pipeline project agreed upon several years ago between Algeria and Lagos.
The announcement of the new pipeline came in the context of the recent return of Morocco to the institutions of the African Union.
The trans-Sahara gas pipeline project (through Algeria), of which Sonatrach Group is among the largest contributors, is now in the right direction and will be ready by 2020, as the pipeline will be transporting about 30 billion cubic meters of gas per year towards Europe.
“The Government has allocated $ 400 million to launch the project,” said Mr. Mayanti Kakala Barrow, Chief Executive Director of Nigeria’s oil Company”.
The gas pipeline will link the southern Kalabar region of Nigeria to the northern city of Kano as well as to Niger and southern Algeria.
The Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline Project was launched in 2002 under the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), with 2015 set for it to be completed, but problems have cropped up notably with  the deteriorating security situation in the Sahel and Sahara, owing to the emergence of armed terrorist groups in the region.