Morocco suspends tender for an LNG import project and pipelines

The Moroccan Ministry for Energy Transition and Sustainable Development has suspended tenders for building an LNG import terminal at the Nador West Med port and related pipeline projects, citing “new parameters and assumptions” for the delay (Moroccan Ministry for Energy Transition and Sustainable Development press release, 30/01/2026). In December 2025, the country launched two international tenders worth MAD9.5bn (around USD950m) for a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) in Nador and a national gas pipeline network. The planned terminal would have a regasification capacity of 5 bcm/year, over five times Morocco’s current gas consumption (0.9 bcm in 2024, mainly used in power plants), and could expand to meet peak demand. It was expected to supply gas to a 1.2 GW CCGT power project nearby.

As part of the new Natural Gas Roadmap (2024-2030), the country is planning to build three build three LNG import terminals in the short term at Nador, Mohammedia, and on the Atlantic coast. Since 2022, Morroco buys LNG on the international market, has it regasified in Spanish LNG terminals and then imports it through the Gaz Maghreb Europe pipeline. In 2021, the country issued a tender to build and operate an FSRU in Mohammedia with a capacity of 1.1 bcm/year by 2025, 1.7 bcm/year by 2030 and 3 bcm by 2040, but the project has not moved forward since then. The same year, Algeria decided to abandon the 11.5 bcm/year GME gas pipeline crossing Morocco to supply Spain and Portugal, due to tensions with Morocco. For the transit fee, Algeria was giving Morocco a portion of the transported gas (around 1 bcm/year, which represented 90% of the country's gas demand).