Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, has assured of uninterrupted gas supplies to Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline project.Ekpo, who led a delegation from to Rabat, Morocco met with its Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, Ms. Leila Benali, and officials involved in the project.
A statement by the minister’s spokesman, Louis Ibah, said Ekpo informed his host President Bola Tinubu was passionate and committed to the project.The statement quoted Ekpo as promising that Nigeria would guarantee uninterrupted supplies.Ekpo noted Nigeria has 209 trillion cubic feet gas reserves and potential reserves increase to 600 trillion cubic feet.
“President Tinubu is passionate about this initiative and will ensure we get to the end of it; it is a long-term project but it will succeed. My assurance to you is that gas will not be a problem as far as Nigeria is concerned.” The pipeline will traverse Benin, Togo, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, and terminate in Morocco, with a spur to Spain.Ekpo said Nigeria will play a pivotal role in the marketing of the product in Africa and European Union.
“We are on track; I will encourage Morocco to continue pushing. The two companies representing Nigeria and Morocco will also have to work day in, day out to meet the target,” he said. Benali thanked Ekpo for supporting monetisation of gas in Africa. She emphasised the importance of the project, saying it would serve as catalyst for regional and continental development.
Their meeting was held to accelerate the project in line with the MoUs signed last year between the two countries in Abuja. in 2022.Recall that the Cooperation Agreement for the 48” x 5,300Km pipeline from Nigeria to Dhaka – Morocco and 1,700km from Dhaka to Northern Morocco was signed in 2017 with a capacity of 30 billion cubic meter (bcm) per year equivalent of 3.0 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day.
Source: https://thenationonlineng.net