The Moroccan-Nigerian gas pipeline committee held a meeting with major international oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria to discuss the conditions and details of supplying the gas pipeline project, Asharq Al-Awsat reported.

The meeting discussed the implementation of the project, which aims at connecting 15 West African countries to the gas continental network, and the establishment of a regional electricity market.

The Moroccan-Nigerian committee was formed between the two countries including the National Oil Corporation of Nigeria (NNPC) and the National Office of Hydrocarbons and Minerals in Morocco (ONHYM), in line with a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed during a visit by King Mohammed VI of Morocco to Nigeria in December 2016 and.

The agreement entered the preliminary engineering studies phase at the beginning of 2019, after the completion of economic feasibility studies in July 2018.

The preliminary engineering studies were won by the British group, Benspin, to prepare the initial engineering designs for the project, and the mechanisms of gas supply pipeline.

The current phase also involves negotiations between 13 African countries, namely: Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Mauritania, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and Gambia.

The length of the gas pipeline will be about 5,600 kilometers, and the two countries recently vowed to complete its establishment in record time.