Morocco and the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) have signed the legal documentation on the partial funding of the second phase of the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline (NMGP) project’s Front End Engineering Study (FEED).
“Through an exchange of correspondence with OFID Director-General Abdulhamid Al Khalifa and with Amina Benkhadra, Director-General of the National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM), the Minister of Economy and Finance Nadia Fettah signed the legal documentation relating to the $14.3 million financing granted by the OPEC Fund to ONHYM as part of its contribution to the financing of the second phase of the Front End Engineering Study of the gas pipeline linking the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Kingdom of Morocco,” the ministry said in a statement on Friday.
Co-funded by the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), the study consists in preparing the documentation for the implementation of the NMGP project and in finalizing the related technical, financial and legal analyses, according to the same source.
The NMGP Strategic Project was initiated by His Majesty King Mohammed VI and President (Muhammadu) Buhari. A cooperation agreement was signed in that regard in May 2017. The project is intended to be a catalyst for the economic development of the North-West African region. It carries a strong desire to integrate and improve the competitiveness and economic and social development of the region, through the development of the NMGP project.
It also aims to boost the regional economy through the promotion of economic development in North West Africa, the development of job-generating industries, the reduction of gas “flaring” and the use of reliable and sustainable energy.
Through its support for this project, a model of South-South cooperation, OPEC Fund strengthens, by the same token, its financial cooperation relations with Morocco and contributes to the economic and social dynamics of the Kingdom, the statement concluded.
