Recently in the far away Nouakchott, Mauritania, NNPC Limited, the Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (ONHYM) of Morocco, PETROSEN of Senegal and SMH of Mauritania signed four MoU, in furtherance of the implementation of the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline Project (NMGP).signed the legal documents were the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Limited, Mallam Mele Kyari; Director General, ONHYM of Morocco, Ms Amina Benkhadra; General Manager, PETROSEN Holdings of Senegal, Adama Djallo; and Director General, SMH of Mauritania, Tourad Abdoul Baghi, took part respectively.

In his speech the Chief  Executive director of NNPC Ltd, Kyari said:.“We know that this is a very critical step that we have to take in terms of integration of activities within Africa so that value can come to our people and ultimately prosperity will continue in the African region.

“The Nigeria trans-Morocco pipeline is one of the critical decisions we need to take to foster that integration and economic value and it will pass through several countries and I can confirm that ECOWAS has endorsed this project.

“So today’s meeting is in alignment with the national oil companies of Senegal, and Morocco so that we can proceed with this. We are happy this is happening and it is going to add value,” he  further stated.

In her part, DG the Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (ONHYM), Ms Benkhadra, said her organisation was committed to the integration of West African economies through the project, which she said will help cut down greenhouse emissions and meet Europe’s gas requirements.“We are happy to be here with our brothers and we intend to make a success of this project to bring prosperity, integration, economic development, and sustainable energy to Africa because our people do not have sustainable energy,“ she explained.

On his part, the General Manager, PETROSEN Holdings, Djallo, thanked the Government of Mauritania for hosting the signing ceremony of the execution of the NNPC/ONHYM/Petrosen Tripartite MoU, adding that the Senegalese national oil company will work with all partners to make the cooperation successful.

The MoU signing was a follow-up to the MoU signed between NNPC, ONHYM of Morocco and the ECOWAS, on September 15, 2022, in Rabat, Morocco.

In completion, the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline Project (NMGP) project will supply about 3 billion standard cubic feet per day (scf/d) of gas along the West African Coast from Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, Gambia, Senegal and Mauritania to Morocco.The NNPC is also championing another transcontinental gas pipeline that would start from Nigeria to European markets through northern Algeria.

In the same vein, The Group Managing Director Oilserv, Engr Emeka Okwuosa, who was recently conferred the-Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON), by President Muhammadu Buhari, has reiterated his company’s commitment and repositioning towards undertaking further pipeline project such as the NMGP. Engr. Okwuosa made this remark during press interactive section journaliststo mark the great honour bestowed on him by Mr.President.

 “So Oilserv is always ready and well prepared and it’s able to make the difference in the delivery of the emerging pipeline projects in the continent.

“The Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline is actually one of the two major international pipelines that are being envisaged. The pipeline is the one that will take off from Kano and go through Niger Republic and Algeria and end up in Europe.

“The project that is actually hot now and is on board in terms of process is the Nigeria-Morocco which will run offshore West Africa to North Africa. It will go all the way from the Niger Delta to offshore Lagos.

“It will then go through all the countries on the coast of West Africa until it gets to Mauritania. And then it goes on land from the back of Mauritania to Morocco where it crosses the channel until it gets to Spain.

“So these are the key pipelines that are upcoming, and we are very aware of the opportunities and we have been part of that. We know that it is a project that might require more than one contractor to execute, but we want to be part of it because we have the capacity to deliver our scopes,” Okwuosa stated. Sequel to prevailing circumstance surrounding the worsening situation of Russian-Ukrainian War, the proposed $25 billion, 5,600-kilometre Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline is expected which link Africa to Europe gas market it seen by global energy major stakeholders as a veritable economic venture.