Kyari: NNPC to make final investment decision on Nigeria-Morocco pipeline next year

The Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited says it will make a final investment decision on the proposed $25 billion Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline (NMGP) by 2023.

Mele Kyari, group chief executive officer (GCEO), made this known in an interview with Bloomberg in Abuja on Monday.

“We will take a final investment decision next year,” he said.

Kyari said the project will cost $20 to $25 billion to build and will be constructed in phases, adding that discussions around financing are ongoing.

According to the GCEO, it is expected that the first segment would take three years to finish while the other segments will take up to five years.

The NMGP is a 5,600km gas pipeline project, traversing 13 African countries, including Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Cote d’ lvoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Gambia, Senegal and Mauritania.

Once completed, it will provide gas from Nigeria to the West African countries through to the Kingdom of Morocco and subsequently to Europe.

The pipeline will originate from Brass Island in Bayelsa and terminate in the North of Morocco, where it will be connected to the existing Maghreb European Pipeline (MEP) that originates from Algeria —via Morocco — to Spain.

The project is also expected to supply about three billion standard cubic feet of gas per day (3bscfd) along the West African coast to Morocco.

Recently, NNPC signed memoranda of understanding (MoU) with Morocco, Senegal, and Mauritania as well as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for the gas project.