According to the Algerian Energy Minister, Algeria, Nigeria, and Niger have decided to construct a more than 4,000km Trans Saharan gas pipeline.
The pipeline, which is expected to cost $13 billion, will begin in Nigeria and terminate in Algeria. After that, it will be linked to already-existing pipelines that lead to Europe.
The Algerian Minister of Energy and Mines, Mohamed Arkab, the Niger Minister of Energy and Renewable Energy, Mahamane Sani Mahamado, and the Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, have all signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
It comes after an agreement for resurrecting the decades-old Trans-Saharan gas pipeline project was inked last month by the three African nations.
Up to 30 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas can be transported annually to Europe via pipeline.
The three African nations established a task group for the pipeline project at the time, according to the Nigerien Oil Ministry, and assigned an organisation to update the feasibility study for the project.
In 2009, these nations initially signed a contract for the project. Although the gas project has been in the works for more than 40 years, progress has been slowed down for a variety of reasons, including worries about security.
Xinhua cited Arkab as telling reporters that today’s meeting came after two others that took place in Niamey in February and Abuja in June, respectively.
[quotation name=’author name here’]We have taken a number of decisions and we are making remarkable advances in the construction of this strategic project.[/quotation]
The proposed gas pipeline will begin in Nigeria’s Warri and conclude in Algeria’s Hassi R’Mel. According to Algeria’s Ennahar TV, it will then be connected to already-existing pipelines that travel to Europe.
Algeria exported 54 billion cubic metres of gas last year, mostly to Spain and Italy.
