[dropcap]T[/dropcap]HE Nigerian government on Wednesday approved a proposal for the construction of a gas pipeline connecting Nigeria and Morocco.
Nigeria’s Federal Executive Council at a weekly meeting approved a proposal presented by the ministry of petroleum resources and directed the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC) to execute a Memorandum of Understanding with the Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS) for the project, said Timipre Sylva, minister of state for petroleum resources, at a press briefing in Abuja.
Sylva said the ECOWAS-coordinated project was still at the front-end and engineering designing stage, and the cost would be determined after the design has been completed.
The proposed mega-project was planned to be one of the world’s longest offshore pipelines, covering about 7,000 km, according to reports by local media.
Sylva said this gas pipeline is expected to take gas to a dozen
West African
countries and Morocco, and through Morocco to Spain and other European countries.
Nigeria, with abundant stranded gas particularly in the deep water, has one of the largest gas reserves in Africa.
