As Africa’s hydrocarbons industry continues to grow, the development of regional and international oil and natural gas pipelines will play a critical role in improving the access, availability and affordability of energy across the continent.
Major pipeline projects currently underway include the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline (TSGP), East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), Central African Pipeline System (CAPS) and Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline (NMGP), among others, which will play a key role in bringing Africa’s oil and gas resources to market.
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Poised to connect Nigeria’s resource-rich fields to regional African and European markets via the Mediterranean coast, the 4,128-km TSGP will facilitate the delivery of 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year. With the establishment of a taskforce and a roadmap in place for the development of the pipeline by the respective energy ministers and national oil company (NOC) heads of Nigeria, Niger and Algeria, the pipeline is expected to commence operations in 2030. The TSGP will connect a large regional network of oil pipelines in West and North Africa, including the Maghreb-Europe Gas Pipeline and Medgaz Gas Pipeline, providing a new export route of African gas to Europe. According to Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, the $13-billion pipeline will present a strong opportunity for Nigeria, Niger and Algeria to tap into European markets and monetize their respective natural resources.
Anticipated for completion in 2025, the EACOP is set to transport up to 246,000 barrels of crude oil per day from the Tilenga and Kingfisher oilfields in Uganda to the Port of Tanga in Tanzania, where it will be exported to global markets. Having secured the endorsement of the East African Legislative Assembly in November 2022, the 1,445-km EACOP represents an investment of approximately $10 billion. The project serves as a key step in achieving energy security in East Africa, which is home to only one commercial oil producer, and represents a milestone in regional cooperation between the governments of Tanzania and Uganda, which are seeking to boost upstream activities to drive economic expansion.
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Meanwhile, the CAPS was launched in September 2022 by Equatorial Guinea’s Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons and is set to connect Central, East and West Africa through a comprehensive system of refineries, gas-to-power plants, liquefied natural gas terminals and transnational oil and gas pipelines. The project is currently in its planning phase and will include three multinational pipeline systems that will link Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, helping to tackle energy poverty while reducing dependence on non-African energy imports. Completion of the project is slated for 2030 and will underpin broader efforts to stimulate job creation, energy access and industrialization across the wider Central African region.
Following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding among the Economic Community of West African States, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and Morocco’s Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines, the $25-billion NMGP is set to make significant strides in the coming years. Set for completion in stages over the next 25 years, the pipeline will become the world’s longest offshore pipeline – and second-longest pipeline overall – with Ivory Coast, Liberia, Guinea and Benin having signed agreements with Morocco and Nigeria last June to participate in the project. The 6,000-km pipeline will connect 13 African countries along the Atlantic Coast of West Africa and will facilitate the delivery of 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year to local and international markets. What’s more, the pipeline will be integrated with the Maghreb Europe Gas Pipeline, which runs from Algeria through Morocco, and will tie in directly to the European market.
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With the continent presenting over 125 million barrels of oil and over 600 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, new investments in the construction and development of cross-border pipelines, while capital intensive, remain indispensable. With over 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa living in energy poverty, investment in midstream infrastructure will not only enhance energy security on the continent, but also stimulate economic growth while generating employment opportunities and enhancing the knowledge base of local companies.
