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Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has announced that construction of the long-planned Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline (TSGP) will begin immediately after the holy month of Ramadan, marking a key milestone for one of Africa’s largest regional energy infrastructure projects, the official Algeria Press Service (APS) reported on Monday.
TSGP is a proposed 4,128-kilometre (km) natural gas pipeline designed to link gas fields in southern Nigeria to Algeria via Niger to export gas to Europe.
Speaking during a joint press conference in Algiers with Niger’s head of state Abdourahamane Tchiani, Tebboune confirmed that both countries had agreed to move ahead with implementation of the pipeline across Niger’s territory, the report said.
He said state-owned Sonatrach will manage the project and begin laying the gas pipeline crossing Niger.
Previous reports have indicated that a significant share of project investment is expected to be spent within Niger, through which approximately 841 km of pipeline will be constructed.
Algeria, Nigeria and Niger had signed agreements in February 2025 covering feasibility studies, financing frameworks and confidentiality protocols to accelerate project execution.
The estimated $13 billion cross-border project will have an annual capacity of about 30 billion cubic metres of gas. The pipeline will run from the Warri region in southern Nigeria through Niger to Algeria’s Hassi R’Mel gas hub, where it will connect to Mediterranean export routes including the Trans-Med, Medgaz and Maghreb-Europe pipelines.
Algeria’s portion of the pipeline is 2,300 km while Nigeria’s is 1,030 km, according to a March 2025 report by French language news portal TRT Francais, which said supporting pipeline infrastructure for the project in both countries is 70 percent complete.
In March 2025, UK-based international energy consultancy Penspen was appointed to update the feasibility study of the pipeline it had delivered in 2006. The new scope included regional gas market analysis; environmental and social assessments; economic and financial evaluation; cost estimation; review of relevant legislation and stakeholder consultations; risk analysis and development of a scope of work for Front-End Engineering Design (FEED)
Ownership
The project is structured as a trilateral partnership in which Nigeria’s state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) and Algeria’s state-owned Sonatrach jointly hold 90 percent, while Niger holds the remaining 10 percent stake through SONIDEP.
The TSGP forms part of a wider wave of regional gas infrastructure initiatives aimed at improving energy access and strengthening export corridors.
Other major projects include the $25 billion Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline, which will cross multiple West African countries, and the planned Mozambique-Zambia pipeline announced in 2025.
(Writing by Majda Muhsen; Editing by Anoop Menon)
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