WAPCo was invited by ECOWAS to observe the historic first meeting of the Nigeria -Morocco Gas Pipeline Project’s Steering Committee at Abuja on June 16, 2023. Present at the event were WAPCo’s Engineering & Maintenance Manager, Patrick Eronmwon, Deputy Manager Corporate Planning, Commercial and Business Development, Dickson Kwaku Osei and Deputy Manager Process Safety, Raheem Alabi.
ECOWAS considers the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline project an opportunity for its West African Gas Pipeline Extension Project (WAGPEP) due to the similarities between the two projects, which called for the pooling of efforts to achieve a single gas pipeline project. The ECOWAS sponsored West African Gas Pipeline Extension Project (WAGPEP) seeks to extend the existing WAGP project to deliver natural gas to all ECOWAS countries. ECOWAS Ministers of Mining and Hydrocarbons, last year approved the merger of the West Africa Gas Pipeline Extension Project (WAGPEP) and the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline Project (NMGP) into a “Unique project.”
The West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP), the first such pipeline in sub-Saharan Africa, is owned and operated by the West African Gas Pipeline Company Limited (WAPCo). WAGP was conceived by ECOWAS in 1982 as a regional infrastructure for regional economic development. The completion of WAGP, a 678-kilometre-long gas transmission system, built to carry gas from Nigeria to Ghana through Benin and Togo, and the declaration of commercial operation in March 2011, marked a significant milestone in regional integration, economic growth and development.
The successful execution of WAGP as a regional infrastructure through a private and public sector partnership demonstrates a functioning example of harmonious regulatory and economic integration.
WAGP provides a foundation to facilitate regional economic growth and development, and an infrastructure to stimulate further foreign investment.