West African leaders approved a plan for a $25 billion pipeline to transport natural gas from Nigeria to Morocco, a major step in expanding the region’s gas exports to help meet global demand. The agreement signed by heads from the Ecowas bloc paves the way for a company to be established for the project.
Nigeria holds Africa’s largest gas reserves and began talks with Morocco about a pipeline project a decade ago. The pipeline will run through 13 West African countries, transporting 30 billion cubic meters of gas per year. About half that volume is expected to flow through Morocco to European markets, according to the Moroccan government agency co-leading the project with Nigeria’s state oil company NNPC.
Plans for the Morocco project continue as construction of the Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline, a separate project being built by Algeria to source gas from Nigeria, proceeds. Natural gas has the potential to help fill Africa’s electricity availability gap, but global demand for it also stems from a push by Europe to diversify its gas sources, following years of overreliance on Russia.