After a two-day meeting, the energy ministers of the three countries agreed to accelerate work on the construction of the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline.
This $13 billion project will run through all three countries and the total length of the pipeline will be 4 128 km. When completed, it should supply Europe with 30 billion cubic meters of gas a year.
The idea of the project is several decades old
This is not a new project at all, the initial idea to bring African gas to Europe was already more than 40 years ago. However, we have not seen any major progress since then and nothing serious has happened apart from the signing of agreements and memorandums. The Nigerian Petroleum Industry Act was awaited for a long time and was finally passed in July 2021.
Valve on the main gas pipeline Nigeria
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Now, with ever-rising global gas prices, the project is seen as a great opportunity for the aforementioned countries to monetize Nigeria’s large gas resources. Especially at a time when European demand for non-Russian resources is steadily increasing.
The statement said.
“The pipeline will enable Europe to tap directly into the three countries’ significant gas reserves, thus diversifying its supply in the wake of the current energy crisis, while creating critical sources of revenue for African gas markets.”
Gas is not only in Nigeria but also in Niger
A large part of the cost of the entire pipeline will be spent in Niger. The country has recoverable gas reserves estimated at 24 billion cubic meters.
Nigeria, for a change, also took steps this month to make a long-awaited pipeline to bring oil to Europe via West Africa and Morocco a reality.
All of these steps show us the gradual great effort by Africa to become more involved in the world commodities market. In addition to the aforementioned gas and oil, the world is also talking about Africa’s large reserves of the metal. Which you can read more about in our earlier article.
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