The Trans-Saharan gas pipeline (TSGP; also known as NIGAL pipeline and Trans-African gas pipeline) is a planned

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

pipeline Pipeline may refer to: Electronics, computers and computing * Pipeline (computing), a chain of data-processing stages or a CPU optimization found on ** Instruction pipelining, a technique for implementing instruction-level parallelism within a s ...

from

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

. It is seen as an opportunity to diversify the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

's gas supplies.

History

The idea of the trans-Saharan pipeline was first proposed in the 1970s. On 14 January 2002, the

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation NNPC Limited is a for profit oil company in Nigeria. Formerly a government-owned corporation, it was transformed from a corporation to a limited liability company in July 2022. NNPC Limited is the only entity licensed to operate in the country' ...

(NNPC) and Algerian national oil and gas company

Sonatrach Sonatrach ( ar, سوناطراك; french: Société Nationale pour la Recherche, la Production, le Transport, la Transformation, et la Commercialisation des Hydrocarbures) is the national state-owned oil company of Algeria. Founded in 1963, it is ...

signed the Memorandum of Understanding for preparations of the project. In June 2005, NNPC and Sonatrach signed a contract with Penspen Limited for a feasibility study of the project. The feasibility study was completed in September 2006, and it found the pipeline to be technically and economically feasible and reliable. On the meeting on 20 February 2009, NNPC and Sonatrach agreed to proceed with the draft Memorandum of Understanding between three governments and the joint venture agreement. The intergovernmental agreement on the pipeline was signed by energy ministers of Nigeria, Niger and Algeria on 3 July 2009 in

Abuja Abuja () is the capital and eighth most populous city of Nigeria. Situated at the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it is a planned city built mainly in the 1980s based on a master plan by International Plann ...

. Safety concerns about the operations have been heightened due to a terrorist insurgency in North Africa, culminating in incidents like the

In Aménas hostage crisis The In Amenas hostage crisis began on 16 January 2013, when al-Qaeda-linked terrorists affiliated with a brigade led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar took expat hostages at the Tigantourine gas facility near In Amenas, Algeria. One of Belmokhtar's senio ...

of 2013. Nigeria, Niger and Algeria are among the least secure areas in the region because of various active terrorist movements that destabilise them. On 28 July 2022, The Algerian, Nigerian and Nigerien Ministers of Energy signed a Memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the implementation of the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline (TSGP) project, co-signed by Algerian Minister of Energy and Mines,

Mohamed Arkab Mohamed Arkab (born 19 February 1966) is an Algerian politician who is serving as Minister of Energy since 22 February 2021. Biography Arkab was born in 1966 and is from the village of Aït Salah in the municipality of Ammal in the Boumerdès ...

, Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Resources,

Timipre Sylva Timipre Marlin Sylva (born 7 July 1964) is a Nigerian politician, he is a former List of Governors of Bayelsa State, Governor of Bayelsa State, Nigeria, and the current Nigeria Minister of State for Petroleum & Resources Corporation, Petroleum Re ...

and Nigerien Minister of Energy and Renewable Energy, , at the end of the work of the third tripartite ministerial meeting held in Algiers.

Route

The pipeline will start in the Warri region in Nigeria and run north through

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesHassi R'Mel Hassi R'Mel ( ar, حاسي الرمل, Berber language: Ḥasi Eṛṛmel) is a town in Algeria located near the 18th largest gas field worldwide. Hassi R'Mel is located in Laghouat Province northwest of Ghardaïa. It is the capital of Hassi R'M ...

in Algeria. In Hassi R'Mel the pipeline will connect to the existing Trans-Mediterranean, Maghreb–Europe,

Medgaz Medgaz is a submarine natural gas pipeline transport, pipeline between Algeria and Spain. History The idea of building a direct gas pipeline between Algeria and Europe arose in the 1970s. However, the technical limitations at that time prevente ...

and

Galsi GALSI ( it, Gasdotto Algeria Sardegna Italia) was a planned natural gas pipeline from Algeria to Sardinia and further northern Italy, as an extension to the TransMed Pipeline. History The feasibility study was completed in 2005. The intergover ...

pipelines. These supply Europe from the gas transmission hubs at El Kala and

Beni Saf is a Japanese R&B singer, who debuted in 2004 under the Avex Trax label. In 2008, Arashiro left Avex Trax and transferred to Universal Music Japan where she started to perform as simply Beni (stylized as BENI). She was initially best known fo ...

on Algeria's Mediterranean coast. The length of the pipeline would be : in Nigeria, in Niger, and in Algeria.

Technical features

The annual capacity of the pipeline would be up to 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas. It would have a diameter of . The pipeline was originally expected to be operational by 2015. The original investment for the pipeline was expected to be around US$10 billion and for gas gathering centers around $3 billion. In the year 2019 the project is still in the prospect phase

Operator

The pipeline is to be built and operated by the partnership between the NNPC and Sonatrach. The company would include also the Republic of Niger. Initially NNPC and Sonatrach would hold a total 90% of shares, while Niger would hold 10%. Russian gas company

Gazprom PJSC Gazprom ( rus, Газпром, , ɡɐzˈprom) is a Russian majority state-owned multinational energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. As of 2019, with sales over $120 billion, it was ranked as the larges ...

has negotiated with Nigeria about its possible participation in the project. Also Indian company

GAIL Gail may refer to: People *Gail (given name), list of notable people with the given name Surname * Jean-Baptiste Gail (1755–1829), French Hellenist scholar * Max Gail (born 1943), American actor * Sophie Gail (1775–1819), French singer and ...

, France's Total S.A., Italy's

Eni SpA Eni S.p.A. () is an Italian multinational energy company headquartered in Rome. Considered one of the seven "supermajor" oil companies in the world, it has operations in 69 countries with a market capitalization of US$54.08 billion, as of 11 A ...

and

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...

have expressed interest in participating in the project. According to the Algerian energy minister

Chakib Khelil Chakib Khelil ( ar, شكيب خليل; born 8 August 1939) is an Algerian political figure who served in the government of Algeria as Minister of Energy and Mines from 1999 to 2010. Early life and education Khelil was born on 8 August 1939 in Ou ...

"only partners that can bring something to the project, not just money, should be there." Energy ministers of Algeria and Nigeria have said that "if things go well, there will be no need to bring international oil companies into the project" and "if the need for partnership in the project arises, not every partner will be welcome on board on the project."

Opposition to the pipeline

The pipeline is opposed by the Nigerian militant group

Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) is a decentralised militant group in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. MEND's actionsincluding sabotage, theft, property destruction, guerrilla warfare, and kidnappingare part of the bro ...

. A spokesman for the group warned that until issues regarding the exploitation of the

Niger Delta The Niger Delta is the delta of the Niger River sitting directly on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean in Nigeria. It is located within nine coastal southern Nigerian states, which include: all six states from the South South geopolitical ...

and its people have been resolved, "any money put into the project will go down the drain."

References

External links

NIGAL project presentation

Gaslink Nigeria Limited
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline Natural gas pipelines in Nigeria Natural gas pipelines in Niger Natural gas pipelines in Algeria Proposed pipelines in Africa Niger–Nigeria relations Algeria–Nigeria relations Algeria–Niger relations Proposed energy infrastructure in Nigeria Proposed energy infrastructure in Algeria Proposed energy infrastructure in Niger