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

In October 2019, African Youth magazine published a story in which it talked about Morocco's energy exploration activities at the beginning of the new millennium in search of new resources, at the time, Moroccan media celebrated the discovery, which was expected to pump out 100 billion barrels of oil, and then, the wait ended with the painful fact that the oil reserves did not exceed 1 billion barrels. It's impossible to use.

African Youth magazine, which focuses on African affairs, added that Morocco learned a lot from this lesson and began to treat the finds with great caution, with a recoverable gas volume of up to 2 trillion cubic meters, and Rabat has maintained its caution despite the importance of the find. Not least because the area had previously been inspected by the Spanish state oil company "Repsol", which said the process of extracting the amount of the previous discovery (less than the amount later found by the British company) was unprofitable.

In January, the National Office of Hydrocarbons and Minerals announced a gas discovery in the "Lixos" offshore area near the city of Larash, while ongoing studies in the area have yet to determine the amount of gas available, Amina Bin Hadera, director of the National Office of Hydrocarbons and Minerals, said in a press statement that drilling operations began in December. The depth reached 2,512 meters at the end of the month, confirming the presence of gas in the 'Anchoa 2' well, adding that if things go as Rabat hopes, the gas production process will start in 2024.

Three days after the initial announcement, a British company spoke of the existence of a "promising discovery" of gas in Morocco's northeastern "Greshif" region, adding that additional tests were being carried out to confirm the amount found. However, despite the good news from the exploration area, Rabat is looking for sustainable solutions that can meet its energy needs, as the amount of these gas found on Moroccan territory can only meet the country's limited regional needs at best.

In December 2016, King Mohammed VI met with President Muhammadu Buhari during his visit to the Nigerian capital Abuja and the two sides agreed to launch a feasibility study in May 2017 to connect the two countries via a gas pipeline from Nigeria to Europe via Rabat, two years after the visit. In June 2018, the two countries signed a joint declaration aimed at laying the groundwork for finalizing the mammoth project, which will stretch over 5,660 kilometers and pass through 10 African countries in addition to the two signatories, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said in a statement. The agreement will make this new pipeline one of the important energy solutions for the West African region, which includes areas without electricity, in addition to creating jobs for West African countries due to this huge project with an investment value of about $30 billion, it will also help food production because this energy can be used to produce fertilizer, which means direct impact on agricultural production. To address the food challenges facing many parts of Africa.

Francis Perrin, president of the Institute of International and Strategic Relations, said the economic and environmental importance of the project is that Nigeria offers sales opportunities for the natural gas it produces during oil production, explaining, "When you produce oil, you are forced to produce this gas, The absence of any market for this gas means that it needs to be burned, which, in addition to the environmental impact, has a huge economic cost." For Morocco, the gains will be doubled, first, Morocco will be able to secure its energy needs, and then it will certainly benefit from this economic partnership, redefining the relationship with Nigeria, which has not always been on Morocco's side on major issues, especially the Sahara, which will give Rabat a much broader presence in the West African region. This is in line with the recent new direction of the Kingdom of Morocco's focus on the African dimension in its foreign relations.

Nigeria's ambitions for energy and economic partnerships with North African countries will not stop there, but will cross the Moroccan border and move a little further east before landing in Algeria, which is also working with Abuja on the Trans-Saharan gas pipeline project Negal.

The first signs of the project began in 2002 with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Algeria and Nigeria, but the start of the project, which cost about $20 billion, was delayed not because of a lack of funding for the project, but because of difficulties in finding a market capable of absorbing 30 billion cubic meters of Nigerian gas. The difficulty of finding a market to sell this gas has increased after a number of strong competitors, led by the United States, entered the market, thanks to shale gas conversion technology, and not forgetting Russia, which supplies gas to Europe at competitive prices, although recent changes in the gas market are not conducive to this project, which is mainly aimed at exporting energy to foreign markets. The two countries confirmed efforts to implement the project as soon as possible, and in September last year, the Director General of Sonatrach confirmed that the technical studies for the project had been completed, noting, "However, economic viability remains related to demand, supply and price." A few days later, Nigeria's Energy Minister, Tamiri Selfa, stressed that the country had begun construction of a gas pipeline to Europe through Algeria.