Abu dhabi: West African leaders on Sunday signed an agreement approving the construction of a gas pipeline linking Nigeria to Morocco at a summit of regional bloc ECOWAS in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown. The approximately 6,000-kilometer Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline (NMGP) will traverse 13 countries along Africa's Atlantic coast, transporting Nigerian gas to Morocco before connecting to the Maghreb-Europe pipeline.

According to Emirates News Agency, Morocco's state hydrocarbons agency ONHYM and Nigeria's state oil company NNPC released a statement highlighting the project's goal of linking West Africa's gas resources to major regional markets. The pipeline aims to strengthen the integration of African energy markets and create a development corridor connecting West Africa, the Sahel, Morocco, and Europe.

The next steps in the project involve establishing a 'project company' based in Casablanca and a governing authority headquartered in Abuja. These steps will precede the onboarding of investors and the final investment decision. The initiative, which was first proposed during Moroccan King Mohammed VI's visit to Abuja in 2016, carries an estimated cost of around $27 billion.