The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has signed Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with four national oil companies to implement the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline (NMGP) project. The MOUs were signed between NNPC and the Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (ONHYM) of Morocco on one hand, and the Société Nationale des Opérations Pétrolières de Côte d’Ivoire (PETROCI), the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL), the Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures of Benin (SNH-Benin), and the Société Nationale des Pétroles of the Republic of Guinea (SONAP) on the other hand.
The NMGP is a proposed 5,600 km gas pipeline project with a capacity of 3 bcf/d (31 bcm/year), crossing 13 countries, including Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania and Morocco. The US$25bn project, when completed, will provide gas from Nigeria to the West African countries up to the Morocco and subsequently to Europe. Commissioning could take place in the 2040s.
In September 2022, the NNPC and the ONHYM already signed an MoU on the project. In addition, the two companies signed agreements with with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Mauritanian state-owned oil and gas company Hydrocarbons Company (SMH) and the Senegalese national hydrocarbon group Petrosen, which are also expected to join the project.
Nigeria is also part of a competing project, promoted by Algeria. In August 2022, Algeria, Niger and Nigeria signed an MoU for the construction of the 30 bcm/year Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline (TSGP) between Warri in Nigeria to Hassi R’Mel in Algeria, passing through Niger. The US$13bn gas pipeline, which aims to link Europe to the three countries' natural gas reserves, will be 4,128 km long, including 1,037 km in Nigeria, 841 km in Niger and 2,310 km in Algeria.