Ben Agande
18 September 2008
Nigeria may soon recieve an offer of about N2.4 trillion for the construction of the Trans-Saharan gas pipeline from Nigeria to Algeria on stream as both the European Union (EU) and Russia are currently in a race for the control of the foreign investment portfolio for the project.
The project which stretches for over a distance of 4,300 Kilometers across the Saharan desert shared among Nigeria (1,050km); Niger (750km), and Algeria (2,500km) when completed would connect Nigeria's gas reserves - the world's seventh largest - to Europe via Algeria's Mediterranean coast.
Fresh EU interest in the project is coming at the heels of mounting fears that Gazprom, the Russian gas monopoly, is intent on winning access to Nigeria's vast gas reserves as part of a strategy to tighten its grip on energy supplies to Europe; having signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in Moscow to co-operate on gas exploration, production and transportation.
The Financial Times reported that a senior EU Commissioner, Mr. Piebalg said, "We need to follow where the Nigerian government is leading us, and the Nigerian government is very clearly leading towards a pipeline," adding "that means we should be more engaged in the trans-Saharan gas pipeline."
EU officials say the pipeline could supply 20bn cubic meters a year of gas to Europe by 2016. The bloc consumes some 300bn cubic metres a year but demand is projected to double by 2030, prompting a search for new sources from the Caspian Basin to Iraq and Qatar as domestic production declines.
Sonatrach, the Algerian state oil company, backs the trans-Saharan pipeline scheme but a consortium to finance and build it has yet to emerge.
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EU TO BUILD TRANS SAHARA PIPE LINE FROM DELTA STATE TO PIPE OUR GAS RESERVE TO EUROPE.THIS IS ANOTHER SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA.WE ARE NOT ABLE TO KEEP TRACK OF OUR CRUDE OIL IN NIGERIA .HOW CAN WE KEEP TRACK OF GAS PIPED TO EUROPE.IS OUR NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AWARE OF THIS ARRANGEMENT OR CAN ANY GROUP JUST GO AND SIGN MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANG FOR THE COUNTRY? IS THIS GOING TO BE LIKE THE BAKASSI AFFAIR? WHICH COUNTRY IN THE WORLD HAS DONE THIS FROM AFRICA.ARE WE SO STUPID,AND CARRIED AWAY BY PROMISE OF TRILLIONS OF DOLLAR? THE SAME PEOPLE THAT HELD US IN SLAVERY DURING THE COLONIAL DAYS NOW WANT US TO BE THEIR ECONOMIC APPENDAGE WHUILE THEY MILK AWAY OUR NATURAL RESOURCES.THEY WILL BUILD THE PIPE THROUGH MOROCCO,AND ALGERIA,AND THIS IS A WAY TO PUSH US TO THE MUSLIM STATES,AND WITH TIME STIR UP RELIGIOUS WAR BETWEEN US.I DO NOT SUPPORT PIPING OUR GAS OUTSIDE THE COUNTRY FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER.WE ARE SUFFERING BLACK OUT IN THE COUNTRY,AND THEY CANNOT HELP US TO GET REGULAR LIGHT AS THEY HAVE IN THEIR COUNTRIES.WHAT THEY WANT IS TO PIPE OUR GAS TO THEIR COUNTRY. Godwin Anyaogu writes from USA.
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I DON'T SUPPORT PIPING OUR GAS TO EUROPE FOR ANY REASONS WHATSOEVER.WE SHOULD NOT BE CARRIED AWAY BY PROMISE OF TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO SELL OUR BIRTH RIGHT.THEY WANT TRANS SAHARA PIPELINE OF OUR GAS,BUT NOT TRANS SAHARA PIPELINE TO GIVE US REGULAR ELECTRCITY IN THE COUNTRY.BY THE WAY IS OUR NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AWARE OF THIS ARRANGEMENT? IS IT GOING TO BE LIKE THE BAKASSI ISSUE.PERHAHS WE HAVE BEEN SOLD OUT BY OUR MONEY BAG POLITICIANS.BY PIPING OUR GAS ACROSS THE SAHARA THROUGH MOROCCO,AND ALGERIA,THEY ARE FINDING A WAY TO PUSH US TO OUR MUSLIM BROTHERS,AND WITH TIME THEY WILL STIR UP RELIGIOUS WAR AMONG US,AND THEY WILL PICK UP THOSE TO FACE WAR CRIME TRIBUNAL. mazianyaogu writes from USA
Yar better be careful and think this thru b4 he involves Nigeria in a currently evolving power struggle between Russia and the West, given Africans experience in proxy wars when we were used as pawns during the cold war. We could learn from Angola and the Congo's more than 40 years of intra-tribal warfares as the peoples were played against each other over access to their natural resources by the power-brokers. Besides, without any peace in our Niger Delta region, how would the Gas Pipeline traverse thru other hot spots of the Berbers at odds with the Chadian govt and the Tuaregs in Algeria & deliver. In fact, when Nigeria's OBJ and Algeria's Bouteflicka first broach the idea, EU was not interested in funding it for the same hot spots reasoning but EU is now coming with a carrot. Oh, oh, watch out for the stick! Well, how do you catch a Monkey? Nigerian leaders better not assume, naively, as usual, that the banana in the tree basket is without strings attached to a trap.