Policy

Morocco plans 5,600km hydrogen pipeline from Nigeria, passing through 11 West African states

It would run in parallel to a previously announced natural-gas pipe, with export to Europe in mind

A map of the proposed Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline, which would run parallel to a separate hydrogen pipeline.
A map of the proposed Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline, which would run parallel to a separate hydrogen pipeline.Photo: NNPC

Morocco is planning to build a 5,600km hydrogen pipeline from Nigeria that will pass through 11 other West African countries, according to a senior official.

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The line would run in parallel to a previously announced $25bn natural-gas pipeline between Morocco and Nigeria, for which memoranda of understanding have been signed by all the countries involved — Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, The Gambia, and Mauritania, according to Amina Benkhadra, director general of Morocco’s National Office of Hydrocarbons and Minerals.

The idea is that all these countries could produce green hydrogen and send it to Europe via pipeline, although Mauritania is the only one that has expressed interest in becoming a major exporter of renewable H2.

The 5,600km Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline (NMGP), most of which would be built offshore, would be connected to the existing Maghreb-Europe pipeline between Morocco and Spain — and the parallel hydrogen pipe would also be connected to Europe.

It would also make use of existing gas pipelines between Nigeria and Ghana.

Benkhadra told Saudi Arabia-based Asharq Business — on the sidelines of the World PtX Summit in Marrakesh — that feasibility studies on the hydrogen part of the project are now under way.
She said that the move would accelerate green hydrogen productions in West Africa, with the H2 either being used locally by industry or exported to Europe.

However, the NMGP is due to be built in multiple stages over a 25-year period, with completion not expected until 2046.

(Copyright)
PipelinesAfricaMoroccoNigeriaMauritania
Published 21 September 2023, 11:32Updated 21 September 2023, 11:32