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The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), with the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM) in Rabat have signed a financing agreement for the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) for the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline Project.
The signing ceremony of the agreement was held virtually in the presence of the Moroccan Minister of Economy and Finance, Nadia Fattah Alaoui, and included Mansour Mokhtar, of the Islamic Development Bank, and Amina Benkhadra, director of ONHYM.
The Islamic Development Bank said the gas pipeline project will play a key role in enhancing energy security in the region and contribute to the economic and social development of the countries it will pass through, according to its press release.
The project will support the achievement of regional economic integration, the improvement of intra-world trade, as well as the increase of exports at the African level.
The Front End Engineering Design study is essential to this strategic project to make the final investment decision by 2023.
The study will focus on the environmental and social impact assessment to ensure that the project complies with all local and international environmental and social standards, and the land use planning it will cross in accordance with all countries concerned, to ensure the smooth running of the implementation.
According to the agreement between Morocco and Nigeria, the two parties will share equally the cost of the study project, which is estimated at 90.1 million USD (386 million MAD). The Islamic Development Bank will support the Moroccan contribution to the tune of USD 15.45 million within the framework of the “Ijarah Service”.
As for Nigeria, the Bank approved the financing of a sum of USD 29.75 million, which brings its contribution to 50% of the total cost of the project’s technical pre-project study.
Morocco and Nigeria announced the project in 2016, which would link natural gas wells in Nigeria and other countries with Morocco. In 2018, this project entered a new phase with the signing of bilateral cooperation agreements.
According to the details of the project, countries that have gas fields will pump their production into the pipeline, while other non-gas producing countries will benefit for development purposes. The pipeline is expected to extend for approximately 5,660 km
Previously, the Islamic Development Bank launched in mid-October a Request for Proposals for the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment and Land Acquisition Policy Framework for the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline Project.
The request for proposals indicated that this evaluation includes 13 countries, namely Nigeria, Morocco, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Gambia, Senegal and Mauritania.
