The Moroccan-Nigeria Gas pipeline: Saving Rabat and helping Europe's energy artery

On August 24, 2021, Algeria officially announced the severing of diplomatic relations with Morocco, following weeks of escalating tensions over various differences, some of them over historical border issues, others related to the latest political developments in the region, the most important of which, of course, is the agreement signed between Morocco and Israel to normalize relations. Algeria considers this to be a direct threat to the country.

This diplomatic initiative will certainly have an impact on many areas of cooperation between the two countries, especially in the field of energy, where the new initiative of severing ties has led to the termination of the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline project, which connects Algeria to Europe through the Kingdom of Morocco, through which Morocco secured 97 percent of its internal gas needs. This guarantees Algeria a financial return and guarantees Spain and Portugal a significant share of its energy needs.

The impact of diplomacy on energy

Since its opening, the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline has become one of the main energy resources of the region, the project from Algeria, through Morocco to the Iberian Peninsula, to Spain's gas volume meets 50% of the region's energy needs, which means that the gas pipeline is one of the lifeblood of the southern European countries, however, As a result of the diplomatic crisis affecting Morocco's relations with Algeria, Algerian President Abdel Majid Teben ordered that the contract linking Algeria's national oil and gas company Sonatrach with Morocco's Office of Electricity and Drinking Water not be renewed, the expiry date of which coincided with the beginning of the crisis between the two neighboring countries. Algeria has promised that the decision will not affect its energy commitments to Europe, which depend on the opening of the "Medgaz" gas pipeline in March 2011, which, although it has an annual flow of 8 billion cubic meters, is 2 billion cubic meters less than the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline, but which is awaiting the completion of expansion works. Until its annual flow reaches 10.5 billion cubic meters.

On the other hand, according to information disclosed by the Moroccan Office of Electricity and Drinking Water, Morocco is not concerned about this decision by Algeria, although Morocco provides 97 percent of its gas needs through the stalled project, the suspended project provides 97 percent of its gas needs, half of which is in return for granting rights through its land. Rabat buys the other half at a discounted price.

In view of these facts, Rabat began to look for new sources of energy, looking for a set of short -, medium - and long-term solutions to realize that the gas of its eastern neighbors would be sufficient. As for the emergency solutions, which are nothing more than importing fossil fuels (such as coal) or importing electricity directly from Europe, for the medium and long term solutions, first try to find natural gas resources in the soil of Morocco, or try to import liquefied gas from any country in the world (such as Nigeria, the United States, Russia and Qatar) that can be transported by ship. For the process to succeed, Morocco would have to build storage stations for this type of liquefied gas, which are not yet available as Moroccan officials plan to equip them in early 2028, before politics comes into play and bonds are dispersed, and it is understood that the cost of supplying liquefied gas is still high compared to importing gas by pipeline.

However, despite the daunting task, Morocco signed a "surprise" deal with its northern neighbor Spain in early 2022, through which it benefits from gas via the Maghreb-Europe pipeline, which has stopped working, but this time the gas is going in the opposite direction and will be shipped from Europe to Africa.

The agreement, announced by Madrid on February 3, confirms the return of Morocco-Spanish relations to a previous era after serious tensions over the past year, as the Spanish Environment Minister Teresa Rivera said that the Kingdom of Morocco had requested assistance from Spain to ensure its energy security and confirmed that her country had agreed to the request. Since it would take the same step with any neighboring country or any strategic partner, speaking on the issue of gas sources, the Spanish minister added, "Morocco will buy the LNG from the global market before it reaches Spain, where we will work to restore the LNG to its normal state and then send it to Morocco via the Maghreb-Europe pipeline." The figures are enough without having to elaborate on the timing or the amount Rabat will get from the process, on the other hand, the Moroccan side did not provide any details on the deal, while some sources confirmed that negotiations between Rabat and Madrid will take weeks to reach a final version of the deal.

The deal will meet Morocco's energy needs, even temporarily, while waiting for more sustainable, lower-cost solutions, which Rabat is working towards to ensure its energy security, and the most important of these solutions will undoubtedly be the discovery of gas fields on Moroccan territory.