Uche Cecil Izuora
Nigeria and Morocco are billed to sign an intergovernmental agreement to advance a major Atlantic coast gas pipeline project.
The agreement is expected to be signed in the fourth quarter of 2026
The planned agreement, to be signed by President Bola Tinubu and Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, follows preliminary technical studies on the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline, also known as the African Atlantic Gas Pipeline.
The development was discussed during a telephone call last Friday between Nigeria’s Foreign Minister Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu and her Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita, the ministry said in a statement.
The head of Morocco’s hydrocarbons and mining agency (ONHYM), Amina Benkhadra, told Reuters last month that an intergovernmental agreement on a planned $25 billion Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline would be signed this year.
The project, agreed a decade ago, would run 6,900 km on a hybrid offshore-onshore route with a maximum capacity of 30 billion cubic metres (bcm), including 15 bcm to supply Morocco and support exports to Europe, ONHYM’s Benkhadra said.
Beyond energy, the two sides explored opportunities for collaboration in fertiliser production and distribution, citing its importance to food security across Africa.
Both ministers stressed the need to re-establish the Nigeria-Morocco Business Council to promote trade and investment, particularly under the African Continental Free Trade Area framework and an existing double taxation treaty.