West African Heads of State signed an intergovernmental agreement over the weekend that clears a major political hurdle for a planned $25 billion pipeline designed to carry Nigerian gas along the Atlantic coast to Morocco—and potentially into European markets.
The pact, signed during the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) summit in Freetown, provides sovereign backing necessary to move the African Atlantic Gas Pipeline (AAGP) from planning toward construction.
The pipeline, jointly promoted by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Ltd. and Morocco’s Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (ONHYM), is slated to run nearly 6,900 kilometres and carry as much as 30 billion cubic metres of gas a year.
“The AAGP is a transformative regional infrastructure project designed to unlock West Africa’s vast natural gas resources,” NNPC said in a statement Monday, announcing the development.
NNPC added that up to 15 billion cubic metres of the pipeline’s annual capacity could be supplied to Morocco and European markets.
NNPC Group Chief Executive Bashir Bayo Ojulari said the leaders’ signatures gave the project the sovereign foundation needed to advance to delivery.
“This milestone reflects the clear mandate of His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” Ojulari said, adding that the pipeline is central to plans to bring about 3 billion cubic feet per day of Nigerian gas to market.
The pipeline—envisioned to traverse 13 Atlantic coastal countries with interconnections to serve landlocked Sahel states—aims to bolster electricity generation, industrialisation and regional energy integration across West Africa.
Promoters say preparatory work is largely complete, including front-end engineering design, route reconnaissance and environmental and social studies, as well as legal, regulatory and commercial frameworks.
The agreement follows earlier steps in the project’s institutional timeline, including a 2022 memorandum of understanding between Nigeria and Morocco and ECOWAS approval at its December 2024 summit in Abuja.
Remaining formalities include signatures from the Kingdom of Morocco and Mauritania, after which the Pipeline Higher Authority will be established in Abuja and an AAGP project company set up in Casablanca.
ONHYM Director-General Amina Benkhadra called the weekend’s signatures “another major milestone” toward an integrated Atlantic Africa under the shared vision of Nigeria’s late President Muhammadu Buhari and Morocco’s King Mohammed VI—an effort leaders say continues under President Tinubu.
Project backers say the AAGP will create a new energy corridor by linking the West African coast to the Maghreb–Europe gas network, potentially opening an export route for African gas into Europe.
For Nigeria—home to some of the continent’s largest gas reserves but constrained by limited export infrastructure—the pipeline could both expand export options and support domestic and regional demand.
NewsQuest reports that promoters are expected to pursue the project in line with international technical standards and environmental safeguards as they prepare for a final investment decision.
If realized, the AAGP would rank among the continent’s largest energy infrastructure projects, at a time when many African governments are prioritizing gas to ease power shortages and drive industrial growth.
