Ghana and four other West African nations have signed a memorandum of understanding with Nigeria and Morocco on the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline Project (NMGP).

The Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd), Morocco’s ONHYM and the National Oil Companies and commercial entities of Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau and Sierra Leone executed the MoU in Rabat.

NNPC CEO Mele Kyari, in a statement, on Tuesday, said Africa would benefit from the project.

Shortly after the MoU signing on behalf of the NNPC Ltd., Mr Kyari said it represented a significant step in fulfilling the federal government’s drive towards harnessing Nigeria’s abundant gas resources through NMGP.

According to Mr Kyari, other benefits of the project include the creation of wealth, improvement in the standard of living of the citizenry, and increased cooperation between our countries while mitigating desertification and other benefits to be derived from carbon emission reduction.

“The NNPC Ltd will facilitate the continuous supply of gas and provide other enablers such as the required land for the first compressor station to be deployed in Nigeria, which is among the 13 stations earmarked along the pipeline route,‘’ he said.

The representatives of the West African countries reiterated their countries’ commitment towards making the NMGP project a reality.

Sylvia Archer, general manager, Commercial/Legal Advisor of Ghana, described the MoU signing as historic and significant.

Baboucarr Nije, managing director of Gambia GNPC, said its search for hydrocarbons was encouraged by recent discoveries in neighbouring Senegal and Mauritania, and the opportunity presented by NMGP would boost their chances to discover natural gas in Gambia.

According to Foday Mansaray, general director of PDSL of Sierra Leone, his country is excited about the opportunities inherent in the NMGP partnership, which has reinforced the virtues of greater collaboration that would further develop the continent.

The NMGP is a 5,600Km gas pipeline project, transversing 13 countries, namely Nigeria, Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, Gambia, Senegal and Mauritania to Morocco and subsequently to Europe.

In September 2022, NNPC Ltd. and ONHYM signed an MoU with the ECOWAS Commission. In October 2022, it also executed an MoU with Petrosen of Senegal and SMH of Mauritania, all on the NMGP Project. 

(NAN)