The Final Investment Decision(FID) for $25 billion mega Nigeria-Morocco pipeline project may now be taken in 2025.

The initial decision was intended to happen in 2023 but has to be shifted to allow for some modifications.

Information from the Moroccan Government indicates that the FID will now be executed next year for the project that will ship gas to Europe after all relevant studies are completed.

The postponement is to enable modification of the pipeline's path for technical and environmental reasons, Morocco's National Office for Hydrocarbons and Minerals said in a statement published by the Arabic language Hespress newspaper on Wednesday.

"Land survey studies launched recently with the aim of minimising environmental and social effects of the project could point to a slight revision of the pipeline path.

The postponement of the investment decision until 2025 is normal in such mega projects...it will be taken after all technical, financial, commercial and political studies concerning the project are completed."

The pipeline project, part of an agreement signed by Morocco and Nigeria in 2017, will transport nearly 30 billion cubic metres of natural gas per year to Morocco and then to Europe through a pipeline that will stretch 5,300km from Nigeria to Dhakia in Morocco and 1,700 km from Dhakia to Northern Morocco.

The pipeline will traverse several African countries, including the Republic of Benin, Togo, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea