The proposed African Atlantic Gas Pipeline has taken a major step towards implementation after Heads of State of the Economic Community of West African States signed the project’s Intergovernmental Agreement at the ECOWAS Summit in Freetown, Sierra Leone, over the weekend.

The agreement provides the sovereign backing needed to advance the ambitious pipeline, which is expected to connect Nigeria’s gas resources to markets across West Africa, the Sahel, Morocco and Europe.

The development was disclosed in a statement issued on Monday by the Chief Corporate Communications Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Andy Odeh.

The AAGP, jointly promoted by NNPC Limited and Morocco’s Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines, is planned to span nearly 6,900 kilometres along the West African Atlantic coast.

The pipeline is designed to transport 30 billion cubic metres of natural gas annually, linking gas-producing nations with major demand centres and landlocked countries across the Sahel.

The project is also expected to establish a new energy corridor connecting the West African coast to the Maghreb-Europe Gas Pipeline, creating a route through which African gas can reach Morocco and European markets.

The statement read, “The African Atlantic Gas Pipeline Project has received a major boost towards its actualisation as the Heads of State of ECOWAS Member States have signed the Intergovernmental Agreement for the project at the ECOWAS Summit in Freetown, Sierra Leone, at the weekend.

“The AAGP is a transformative regional infrastructure project designed to unlock West Africa’s vast natural gas resources, connect them to major demand centres, integrate African energy markets, and establish a strategic development corridor linking West Africa, the Sahel, Morocco, and Europe.”

According to NNPC, up to 15 billion cubic metres of the pipeline’s annual capacity could be supplied to Morocco and European markets.

The company said the project would boost electricity generation, expand energy access, promote industrialisation and support the emergence of new industrial value chains across the region.

The Intergovernmental Agreement signed by ECOWAS member states gives effect to the approval granted at the 66th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Summit in Abuja in December 2024.

It also concludes the institutional process coordinated by ECOWAS following the Memorandum of Understanding signed by Nigeria and Morocco in 2022 for the development of the project.

The remaining step in completing the intergovernmental framework is for the Kingdom of Morocco and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania to sign the agreement.

The project was conceived from the shared vision of the late President Muhammadu Buhari and Morocco’s King Mohammed VI and continues to receive the backing of President Bola Tinubu.