Nigeria, Morocco, Others Make Final Decision On World's Longest Offshore Gas Pipeline

The Chief executive of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari announced on Monday that the world's longest offshore gas pipeline would run from Nigeria to Morocco and then on to other southern Europe.

Kyari stated that Nigeria, Morocco, and their partners anticipate making a final investment decision on the project next year during an interview with Bloomberg.

The pipeline, which is anticipated to cost $20 billion to $25 billion, will travel 3,840 miles (5,600 kilometres) from Nigeria down the coast of West Africa to Morocco before linking with pipelines in Italy and Spain and perhaps bringing additional non-Russian gas to Europe.

This will enable Nigeria to commercialise and export more of its abundant natural gas resources.

At the moment, only Nigeria LNG, a joint venture between NNPC and global oil and gas giants, exports natural gas from Nigeria.

According to kyari, broadening Nigeria's gas export channels and reducing gas flaring would go hand in hand with increasing the country's gas exports.

The Memorandum of Understanding for the building of the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline was signed last month by NNPC Ltd. and the Moroccan Office National of Hydrocarbons and Mines.

“We will take a final investment decision next year."

The large pipeline will be constructed in sections, the first of which, according to the senior executive of NNPC, will take three years to complete. 

The remaining phases of construction will take five years.

The details of finance are presently being discussed by Nigeria, Morocco, and other stakeholders with prospective lenders and financial partners, he noted.

Fourfolding output in the upcoming four years is "quite realisable," Kyari added, as Nigeria intends to dramatically increase its gas production.

According to current plans, the EU might transfer more pipeline gas from Africa to Europe by the end of this decade, when it will be free of Russian gas if the longest offshore pipeline is finished on schedule.