In order to penetrate the European market with gas supply, Nigeria has
signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Algeria on twelve
billion dollars, 4,400-kilometers Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline project.
Towards a total implementation, a meeting was organised at the instance of Nigeria and represented by the Group Managing Director (GMD) of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Mohammed Barkindo, with Algerian delegation led by Mohammed Meziane, Chief Executive Officer of Sonatrac, Algeria’s National Oil Company.
Barkindo said the meeting was designed to clean up the technical and commercial burdens of the draft MoU which was admitted last year February for the signatures of Nigeria, Algeria and Niger governments, stressing that “in the course of the meeting, we were going to revisit some of the highlights that made the project commercially viable.”
He said “after which the commercial and other technical issues would be assigned to the negotiation of the Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) that would govern the project as commercial venture. The MoU would be the umbrella document set in clear terms with the objective of going into this project and other areas of operation between the two countries and, therefore, should not be burdened with commercial and technical cleaning,” he said.
According to him, ”the importance of cleaning up the document and getting the MoU signed could not be overemphasised because this would demonstrate to the international community and the continent that our governments agreed to pursue this project with the aim of strengthening the bilateral relationship among Nigeria, Algeria and Niger that was admitted into this project.
“The project was a unique opportunity to diversify into gas exploration in order to strengthen the global interdependence of producers and consumers of this valuable product that was gradually becoming a fuel of choice, not only because of its environmental credential, but also the sensitivity of it on the climate change.
Barkindo also noted that Sonatrac and NNPC would jointly maximise the gas masterplan which had been adopted by the three governments and served as blueprint for development of both domestic and export gas which he said had been presented to Algeria in a meeting in London to serve as a feasibility document to meet the market demand for consumers.
He noted that the project was not only attracting potential consumer but had started to draw interest from the participants, especially the international oil companies, adding that the project was safe and in line with the Nigeria’s gas masterplan which aimed at balancing the domestic and export obligation for Nigeria.
Meziane said the initial estimation of the project was to cost about $12 billion but as of today, nobody could ascertain the cost of the project due to economic meltdown.
The Sonatrac boss expressed optimism that the project would ensure abundant gas supply for the participating countries.
The Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline project was a product of New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD) midwifed by Nigeria as pipeline system evaluated preferred route expected to cover a distance of 1037 kilometres in Nigeria and 2302 kilometres in Algeria, while it will pass through Niger Republic with a distance of 841 kilometres and subsea with a distance of 220 kilometres.
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