The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation (NNPC) Limited, Mele Kyari, has said that the proposed Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline project will cost about $20- $25 billion to be built.
Last month, Investors King reported that the NNPC Limited and Morocco’s National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines signed a memorandum of understanding to build a 5,600km gas pipeline.
According to Kyari, the construction of the gas pipeline will be in stages. The first stage would take three years to be completed, while the second stage would take five years.
However, the Moroccan State Agency stated that the pipeline could take as long as twenty-five years to be executed, this was after a previous agreement in 2018.
Kyari said that the Nigeria-Morocco Gas pipeline which is a 5,600 km gas pipeline would pass through 13 African countries and after its completion, it will provide gas from Nigeria to the West African Countries, and subsequently to Europe.
He also added that the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline would supply 3 billion standard cubic feet of gas through the 13 African countries daily, improve the standard of living and several other benefits would be enjoyed as a result of reduced carbon emissions.
Speaking on when investments concerning the project would be finalized, Kyari said, “We will take a final investment decision next year.”
In the process of committing to this project, the NNPC Limited said it has also awakened a longstanding plan for a separate trans-continental Gas pipeline which is about 4,400 kilometers traveling through the Sahara Desert to Algeria and eventually heading towards Europe.
Mele Kyari said the corporation has seen an opportunity to revive every gas pipeline project and it all boils down to who needs it and who is willing to pay the price.
“We have seen the opportunity to bring back every gas pipeline project that you can think of,” Kyari said. “It is a matter of who needs it and who’s ready to pay for it.”
