The Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline (NMGP) is facing new obstacles that might hinder its «delivery date», Nigerian online newspaper the Independent says quoting a recently released report. The latter indicates that the NMGP is exposed to «considerable commercial, technical, legal and financial challenges that make it unlikely to materialize in the shorter medium-term». The Nigerian presidential election scheduled for February 2019 could affect the project's implementation. According to the same source, «the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP), which involved only four countries (Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana), took 12 years between the first feasibility study and the start-up of commercial operations with first gas delivered to Ghana in 2008». «It is very likely that the amount of time needed to reach agreements with all countries involved in the NMGP project be even longer, which would position it in a very long-term horizon (2035-2040)», the same report explained. For the record, British engineering and management services company Penspen has announced; earlier in January, that it is expected to execute the First Phase of the FEED (Front-End Engineering Design) of approximately 5700 km gas pipeline to link Nigeria to Morocco. The decision was announced after the London-based firm was awarded a contract by Morocco's Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (ONHYM) and Nigeria's National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to conduct the study. Penspen which has already conducted the project's feasibility study, will have to focus on the technical requirements as well as rough investment cost for the project.
