Gazprom to build gas pipeline linking Africa reserves to Europe

PanARMENIAN.Net - Three African countries signed an accord to build trans-Saharan gas pipeline linking vast reserves in Nigeria to Europe.



France's Total, Royal Dutch Shell and Russia's Gazprom have all expressed interest in helping Nigeria's state-run NNPC and Algeria's counterpart Sonatrach in the project. Gazprom and NNPC agreed to invest at least $2.5 billion to explore and develop Africa's biggest oil and gas sector, including building the first part of the Trans-Sahara pipeline.



The project, with capital costs estimated at $10 billion for the pipeline and $3 billion for gathering centers, would send West African gas via a 4,128 km (2,580 mile) pipeline from Nigeria via Niger and Algeria starting from 2015.





Nigeria has estimated natural gas reserves of 180 trillion cubic feet, the seventh largest in the world. Its liquefied natural gas company Nigeria LNG says it already provides 10 percent of world supply, much of it to Europe and North America.