Morocco and Nigeria have renewed their commitment to joint efforts towards the realization of strategic development projects that include building a Nigeria-Morocco natural gas pipeline and a fertilizer plant in Nigeria (GM Jan. 18, 2019)
The renewed commitment came during a phone call on Jan. 31 between Morocco’s King Mohammed VI and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, according to a Morocco World News report, citing Morocco’s royal palace in Rabat.
The two countries agreed to the pipeline in December 2016 and launched feasibility studies. Morocco’s National Hydrocarbons and Mines Office and Nigeria’s National Petroleum Corp. inked a memorandum in June 2018 to advance construction of the ambitious 5,660-km pipeline that will supply gas from Nigeria to Morocco and certain West African countries, and also to Europe (GM June 15, 2018). Construction is anticipated to take place in phases covering 25 years.
The two leaders also agreed to speed up efforts to launch a fertilizers complex in Nigeria by the OCP Group. OCP back in June 2018 inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) to develop an industrial platform in Nigeria for the production of ammonia and related products (GM June 15, 2018).
In June last year, OCP said it expected its planned Nigerian ammonia plant would be operational by 2024, (GM June 26, 2020). The ammonia plant will have capacity for 750,000 mt/y and is being built in the southeast of the country.
The Moroccan group said some of the ammonia output would be exported to Morocco for OCP’s own use (GM Jan 18, 2019). OCP currently imports all its ammonia requirements.
There has been talk of a joint fertilizer plant, with production capacity for up to 1 million mt/y, including for DAP.