Nigeria, Algeria and Niger have signed an inter-governmental Agreement (IGA) to build the Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline (TSGP) to boost economic and technical development of the countries.
The exchange of the final Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and signing of the document was between Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dr Rilwan Lukman, Algerian Minister of Mines and Energy, Dr Chakib Khelil and Niger Republic’s, Mohammed Abdoulahi.
Mr Lukman told his colleagues that the event was a milestone in the quest of economic development of the three participating countries, especially in terms of collaboration in the commercialization of the huge endowment of natural gas in the spirit of NEPAD.
The agreement is a mark for the actualization of “our joint protocol on sub-regional cooperation and development,” he said.
There is the need to obtain some genuine feasibility studies to establish the techno-economic viability of the project.
Lukman said the implementation of the project would facilitate the development of the economies of the three countries and provide another platform for a sustainable and reliable energy supply to Europe, thus ensuring security of supply.
“In addition, TSGP will enhance on-going efforts of the governments of the sub-region at stopping desertification,” Lukman said.
In his remarks, Mr Khelil said the IGA was the first of its kind in Africa, where countries with the political will and fusion, worked out a development program to better the lots of their citizens.
The 10 billion dollars TSGF was initiated in 2002 and projected to be operational in 2015 and would last for 25 years in the first instance.
Nigeria, which is currently flaring up its gas has not been able to give a deadline against the practice but has a target of between 13 and 15 trillion cubic feet of gas for the project.
Sensing that the gas project will be a money spinner for the country, NNPC has described the project as a veritable vehicle for strengthening the bilateral economic relations of Nigeria, Algeria and Niger.
The project had been integrated into Nigeria’s gas master plan and was expected to deliver its first gas by 2015, with Niger as co-sponsor of the about 4,400km long pipeline.
Source African Press Agency
