The
Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) for the West African Gas Pipeline
(WAGP) will be finalised by end of first quarter of this year as stated by Ibe
Kachikwu, the Nigerian Minister of Petroleum Resources.

The WAGP is the core focus of one
of three cooperation agreements Nigeria signed with Morocco in 2018. The
pre-existing pipeline takes its source in Nigeria and provides natural gas to
Togo, Benin and Ghana through a 678 kilometer, km network. Initially proposed
in 1982, it took over 25 years to be put in service.

The WAGP’s extension could take up
to 25 years to build over several phases, as indicated by both countries
concerned. The extension imagined to be 5,660 kilometre long – will connect
from Nigeria to Morocco and Europe, traversing and providing gas to 15 West
African countries in the process, for an approximate pool of 300 million
potential consumers, excluding Europe.

This project is strategic for all
stakeholders involved. On the project, Kachikwu said: “The pipeline will help
in the industrialization of these countries and also meet the needs of
consumers for heating and other uses. We see gas as a fuel to take Africa to
the next level. Furthermore, the pipeline is designed to decrease gas flaring
in Nigeria and encourage diversification of the energy mixes in traversed
countries, both for industrial and domestic use.

The
two other agreements, signed by Nigeria and Morocco respectively, pertain to
the development of an industrial platform in Nigeria to produce ammonia and
related products; and to a convention around training in the agricultural
sector.

This news comes in as we see
natural gas issues picking up traction across the region, namely with the Grand
Tortue Ahmeyim gas field to move quickly towards first production. Regional
cooperation is also a growing subject across the continent with Kachikwu, also
President of African Petroleum Producers Organization (APPO), stating that the
continent is in need of up to $2bn investment in critical infrastructure.

African producers will unite during
the APPO Cape VII Congress and Exhibition hosted by Africa Oil & Power, in
April 2-5 in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, to tackle such crucial subjects for
Africa’s economic development.