Morocco Takes Its US$26 Billion Gas Pipeline to Washington
MOROCCO · ENERGY
Key Facts
—The ask. Morocco has opened financing discussions with the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the World Bank for the US$26 billion project, its ambassador in Washington, Youssef Amrani, told Bloomberg on 25 July.
—The treaty. ECOWAS heads of state signed the pipeline’s intergovernmental agreement in Freetown on 19 July, turning a Morocco–Nigeria plan into a regional programme under one legal framework.
—The line. 6,800 kilometres along the Atlantic coast through 13 countries, designed to move 30 billion cubic metres of gas a year, or about 3 billion cubic feet a day.
—The builders. Morocco’s ONHYM and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company are developing it jointly, in three construction phases.
—The timetable. Construction from 2028, first gas targeted for 2031. Nigerian gas, Africa’s largest proven reserves at 210 trillion cubic feet in 2024, only enters in the final phase.
—The doubt. Anne-Sophie Corbeau of Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy argues that 13 participating countries could complicate execution, and questions extending the line to a Europe that is phasing out fossil fuels.
The Atlantic Africa Gas Pipeline has moved from politics to money: Morocco has opened financing talks with the US Export-Import Bank and the World Bank over the US$26 billion line, a week after ECOWAS leaders signed its treaty in Freetown. Construction is not due to begin until 2028.
Who Morocco is asking, and for how much
Morocco’s ambassador to the United States, Youssef Amrani, confirmed to Bloomberg on 25 July that talks are open with the US Export-Import Bank and the World Bank. The American export credit agency acknowledged that the discussions are preliminary.
The target is a package of roughly US$26 billion, which would make this the largest infrastructure financing ever attempted in West Africa. Earlier reporting had put the cost nearer US$25 billion.
No commitments have been announced. What has changed is that the project now has the legal architecture lenders of this size insist on.
The Atlantic Africa Gas Pipeline in three phases
The line is planned as 6,800 kilometres running up the Atlantic coast through 13 countries. It is designed to carry 30 billion cubic metres of gas a year, roughly 3 billion cubic feet a day.
ONHYM chief executive Amina Benkhadra told Reuters that the first section will link Morocco to gas fields in Mauritania and Senegal. A southern section connecting Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire follows.
Only in the final phase does the line reach Nigeria’s fields, which held Africa’s largest proven gas reserves at 210 trillion cubic feet in 2024. Construction is expected to begin in 2028, with first deliveries targeted for 2031.
Why the treaty had to come first
On 19 July, ECOWAS heads of state signed an intergovernmental agreement in Freetown establishing the pipeline’s legal framework. That turned a bilateral Morocco–Nigeria initiative into a regional programme governed by one set of rules.
The sequencing was deliberate. Export credit agencies and multilateral lenders do not underwrite cross-border pipelines on the strength of memoranda of understanding.
Two pieces are still missing. Morocco and Mauritania are not ECOWAS members, so a separate agreement covering them has yet to be signed.
The case the developers make
ONHYM’s argument is diversification. Because the line spans 13 economies, its exposure to any single market or producer stays limited, which the agency says reduces risk for lenders.
Benkhadra has described the project as a catalyst for expanding electricity access and accelerating industrial development across the region. The pipeline is also meant to knit together national gas markets that barely trade with each other today.
The existing precedent is modest, which is part of the pitch. The West African Gas Pipeline has linked Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Ghana since 2010 but stayed small and suffered repeated supply interruptions.
The case against
Anne-Sophie Corbeau, a researcher at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, reads the country count the other way. Thirteen participants, she argues, could complicate execution rather than spread risk.
She has also questioned the commercial logic of extending the line towards Europe while the European Union phases out fossil fuels. That matters, because European sales are part of the business model.
Neither objection is fatal, and both are the kind of risk lenders price rather than refuse. They do help explain why no money has been committed yet.
Europe is the swing factor
Access to European buyers would come through a connection to the existing Maghreb–Europe Gas Pipeline. The Dutch TTF benchmark traded above €62 per megawatt-hour on 24 July, a four-month high, which temporarily strengthens Morocco’s pitch.
Gas prices five years before first delivery are not a business case, however. The next concrete milestones are institutional: a project company in Casablanca, the pipeline authority in Abuja, and the agreement covering Morocco and Mauritania.
For outside investors this is the clearest test yet of whether Washington will fund African energy infrastructure at scale. It is also the single largest project in the contest for West Africa’s gas.
More: Nigeria news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who would finance the Atlantic Africa Gas Pipeline?
Morocco has opened preliminary talks with the US Export-Import Bank and the World Bank for a package of roughly US$26 billion. No commitments have been announced.
How long is the pipeline and where does it run?
The line is planned as 6,800 kilometres along the Atlantic coast, crossing 13 West African countries between Nigeria and Morocco. It is designed to carry 30 billion cubic metres of gas a year.
When would the pipeline start delivering gas?
Construction is expected to begin in 2028, with first deliveries targeted for 2031. Nigerian gas only enters the system in the third and final construction phase.
What did ECOWAS actually sign?
On 19 July 2026, ECOWAS heads of state signed an intergovernmental agreement in Freetown that establishes the pipeline’s legal framework. It converts a Morocco-Nigeria project into a regional programme.
What are the main objections to the project?
Anne-Sophie Corbeau of Columbia University argues that 13 participating countries could complicate execution, and questions the logic of extending the line to a Europe phasing out fossil fuels.
Connected Coverage
The line has moved fast since we reported the Nigeria–Morocco push earlier this month, and it sits alongside Rabat’s other Atlantic play, the Dakhla Atlantic port. Both belong to the wider contest mapped in Africa: The New Scramble.
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