Nigeria made a step closer to boosting natural gas supplies to Europe after it signed deals for the construction of the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline with Algeria and Niger.

According to Nigeria’s Business Daily, the deals between the three countries followed months of negotiations, they would involve energy companies from all three, and an updated feasibility study.

The Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline will stretch 4,400 km to bring natural gas from Nigeria’s fields via the Republic of Niger and Algeria to Europe’s gas network.

Europe is still struggling to find a cost-effective replacement for Russian pipeline gas but without much success, as suggested by signals from Germany some politicians would not mind restoring gas flows along the Russian pipes.

“The TSGP represents a strategic initiative designed to establish a continental pipeline for transporting natural gas from Nigeria, through Niger, to Algeria, facilitating exports to European markets and other international destinations,” a statement by the social media assistant to the Nigerian president read.

Europe has been grappling with soaring electricity prices on the back of higher gas prices, driven there by peak seasonal demand and seasonally low wind power output. To cope with the situation, European energy buyers have been paying premiums for LNG cargos, including at least one rare shipment of LNG from Australia, which normally supplies the Asia market for geographical and cost-related reasons.

Source: OILPRICE