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Illustration of Nador West Med port in Morocco. Source: Marsa Maroc
Morocco is getting closer to creating an almost $1 billion liquefied natural gas hub at a new deep-sea port on its Mediterranean coast, as it plans to boost imports to curb the use of dirtier fuels.
The nation this week issued a tender for a company to supply a floating storage and regasification unit that will be moored at the Nador West Med port that’s due to start operating next year. It’s also looking to pick firms to build, finance and operate new pipelines connecting the port to major industrial areas.
Morocco aims to become a player in LNG imports, with the government planning to spend $3.5 billion to boost gas consumption from 1.2 billion cubic meters to 12 billion cubic meters by 2030. The new projects will help counter the loss of Algerian supplies in 2021 following a diplomatic dispute, while gas is an important bridge fuel for manufacturing industries that export goods to Europe.
The Ministry of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development estimated the FSRU would cost about $273 million, while the new pipelines would require investments of $681 million. The pipelines will be connected to the Maghreb-Europe link, through which Morocco imports gas from Europe, as the projects will also form the backbone of a gas network that may one day carry green hydrogen both home and abroad.
The country’s gas plans involve spending $1.5 billion on infrastructure to import LNG to replace dirtier feedstocks such as fuel oil and coal in the industrial sector, and investing $2 billion to construct gas-fired plants that would triple the amount of power generated by gas.
Morocco plans to decarbonize its economy by 2050 — phasing out coal along the way — including by expanding in solar and wind generation as well as battery-storage facilities. Authorities expect about $11 billion in investment to add 12.5 gigawatts of renewable capacity between 2025 and 2030, representing around 80% of all new installed capacity during that period.
“Gas will play a limited role in replacing coal, with planned renewable expansion being a far larger percentage of new capacity,” said Rachid Ennassiri, director of the Imal Initiative for Climate and Development.
Offers for the FSRU tender will be opened in early February, and pre-qualified candidates for the new pipelines will be revealed around the same time.
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