Page 9 - AfrOil Week 23 2022

AfrOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT AfrOil

Nigeria authorises NNPC to discuss

Morocco pipeline plan with ECOWAS

MOROCCO/NIGERIA THE Nigerian government this week approved Russians were with me in the office last week.
a proposal for a gas pipeline that will connect They are very desirous to invest in this project,
the country with Morocco, running through the and there are lots of other people who are also
territorial waters of 13 countries. desirous to invest in the project.”
Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum He added: “This is a pipeline that is going
Resources Timipre Sylva said the government to take our gas all through a lot of countries in
had given Nigerian National Petroleum Co. Ltd Africa and also, all the way to the edge of the
(NNPC) the green light “to enter into an agree- African continent, where we can have access to
ment with the Economic Community of West the European market as well.” He also expressed
African States (ECOWAS) for the construction” hope that the government of President Muham-
of the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipelines (NMGP). madu Buhari might at least begin work on the
He added that the project is in its “initial pipeline before its term ends next year. ™
technical design stage,” which he said would
determine the overall cost of development. “It
is at this point that we will talk about financing,”
he added.
In April, Australia’s Worley was awarded the
main front-end engineering design (FEED)
contract for the 7,000-km line, which will link
the existing, 678-km West Africa Gas Pipeline
(WAGP), which runs from Nigeria to western
Ghana via Benin and Togo, to the Gaz Magh-
reb-Europe (GME) conduit, which runs across
the Mediterranean to Spain.
Sylva noted that funds have not yet been
secured for the pipeline’s development but said
“many people are showing interest.” Meanwhile,
news followed that the OPEC Fund for Interna-
tional Development will contribute $14.3mn to
finance the FEED work awarded to Worley, with
the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) providing
more than $15mn.
The conduit is seen as a means of expanding
intra-continental trade while also tapping into
Europe’s desire to reduce reliance on Russian
gas. However, ironically, Sylya announced just
days after the award of the FEED contract: “The Proposed route of Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline, or NMGP (Image: Worley)

Gabon oil terminal resumes

operations following oil spill

GABON ANGLO-FRENCH independent Perenco is designed to contain spills.
reported to have resumed operations at Gabon’s Closure of the nearby 21,000 barrel per day
Cap Lopez terminal and storage facility follow- (bpd) SOGARA refinery at Port Gentil was
ing a major oil spill in late April. avoided by diverting supply from other tanks
The company said that 300,000 barrels of oil within a few days of the leak, while the Gabon
had leaked from the terminal’s R17 storage tank Oil Co. offloaded crude from a tanker moored
but noted that the leak had flowed into units offshore.

Week 23 08•June•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P9