Nigeria, Morocco, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Benin, and Guinea signed four Memoranda of Understanding on Friday at the Economic Community of West African States headquarters in Abuja for the building of the $30 billion Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline Project.

Four new Memorandums of Understanding were signed, as well as tripartite agreements, between the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and Morocco’s Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines on the one hand, and the Cote d’Ivoire’s Société Nationale des Opérations Pétrolières, Liberia’s National Oil Company, Benin’s Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures, and the Republic of Guinea on the other.

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

The project is essentially a collaboration between the federal government and the Kingdom of Morocco, and it evolved during King Mohammed VI of Morocco’s December 2016 visit to Nigeria.

Its goal is to monetise Nigeria’s roughly 206 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of natural gas resources, producing additional cash for the country while also diversifying the country’s gas export routes and decreasing gas flaring.

Speaking on the sidelines of the first steering committee meeting of the project, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPCL, Mele Kyari, said the initial work for the project had moved to an advanced stage.

.“We are pleased to note that currently the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) phase II study is over 70 per cent and the tendering process for the Surveys, Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA), as well as Land Acquisition & Resettlement Policy Framework (LARPF) are on track with clear visibility into project funding,” he said.

He commended the Nigerian government for supporting the NNPC Ltd in the strategic project, noting that it will help support the new government’s economic growth projection.“As a commercial enterprise, NNPC Ltd sees this project as an opportunity to monetise Nigeria’s abundant hydrocarbon resources, by expanding access to energy to support economic growth, industrialisation, and job creation across the African continent and beyond,” he added.

On the possible date for the completion of the project, the Commissioner, Infrastructure, Energy and Digitalisation, ECOWAS Commission, Sediko Douka, said: “For this kind of complex project, to be honest, it can take time. For now, we have achieved the feasibility studies and there will be another time for road shows and roundtable fora to attract investors.”