Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva told reporters in Abuja on Wednesday that the approval for a memorandum of understanding on the gas project with West African regional bloc ECOWAS was given after the Federal Executive Council meeting, presided by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
According to the Minister, the gas line will take gas to 15 West African countries and to Morocco and through Morocco, to Spain and to Europe.
He said details of the project including cost and funding were being worked out as the project was still at a design phase.
“It is only after the engineering design of the pipeline that we will know exactly (what) the cost of the pipeline will be. When that time comes, we will be talking about funding,” the Minister added.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, four years ago, agreed to move ahead with the mega-project to carry gas along the Atlantic Coast, after an initial deal was signed in 2016.
Under the deal, both countries plan to extend the pipeline that has been pumping gas from Nigeria to Benin, Togo and Ghana since 2010.
Plans for a pipeline to take Nigeria’s gas resources to North Africa have long been discussed, and Algeria has also held talks with Nigeria for a similar project crossing the Sahel region, reported.
Nigeria has huge gas resources — the largest proven reserves in Africa and the seventh largest globally.