West African leaders have taken another step toward advancing the proposed Nigeria-Morocco Atlantic Gas Pipeline after member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) signed an intergovernmental agreement supporting the project.
The agreement was signed on Sunday in Freetown, Sierra Leone, according to a joint statement issued by Morocco’s National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
The planned pipeline, estimated to cost $25 billion, will transport up to 30 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas annually from Nigeria through 13 West African countries to Morocco.
According to the statement, about 15 bcm of the pipeline’s annual capacity will be supplied to Morocco and European markets via the existing gas interconnection between Morocco and Spain.
The project, first agreed about a decade ago by Morocco’s King Mohammed VI and Nigeria’s then-President Muhammadu Buhari, will span approximately 6,900 kilometres using a combination of offshore and onshore infrastructure, making it one of Africa’s largest planned energy projects.
The two countries said the project has already completed its feasibility studies and Front-End Engineering Design (FEED), key milestones before construction.
The agreement marks another step toward implementation after years of planning, although the project still requires additional bilateral agreements before work can begin.
According to the statement, the next phase will involve the signing of an agreement between Morocco and Mauritania, in the presence of Nigeria’s president.
Morocco has said the pipeline is intended to deepen regional economic integration by improving access to natural gas, supporting electricity generation and industrial development across West Africa, while strengthening the country’s role as an energy corridor linking Africa and Europe.
The Nigeria-Morocco pipeline is one of Africa’s most ambitious cross-border energy infrastructure projects and is expected to compete with other regional gas export routes aimed at supplying European markets as demand for diversified energy sources grows.
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