- Morocco will host over 1600km of the African-Atlantic gas project, which is 5,600km long.
- Nigeria has the largest proven reserves of gas in Africa and the seventh largest globally.
Morocco and Nigeria have reopened discussions for the African-Atlantic Gas pipeline project. This is part of Rabat’s latest effort to substitute the Maghreb-Europe (GME) energy supply, which Algeria cancelled due to their diplomatic rivalry. According to the royal statement on Tuesday, King Mohammed VI of Morocco invited President Bola Tinubu to visit Morocco during a phone call in which the two leaders discussed the African-Atlantic Gas Pipeline.
The Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline, initiated in 2016 first by the Moroccan monarch and former president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, would skirt the coastlines of 13 West African countries and could pump billions of cubic metres of natural gas into Morocco. Nigeria, a member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has the largest proven reserves of gas in Africa and the seventh largest globally.
Morocco will host over 1600 kilometres of the project, which is 5,600 kilometres long. Both countries have moved to revive long-stalled projects in light of a gas supply crunch following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2021. With less than 100 million cubic meters of natural gas production annually, Morocco mainly depends on Algerian natural gas to meet its needs. Since the Ukraine-Russia war, Algeria has pushed to relaunch plans for a Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline linking Nigeria to Algeria’s Mediterranean coast via Niger.