African Energy Intelligence

Policy

Five States, Ten Days, Three Agencies: Nigeria's Pipeline Vandalism Crackdown Intensifies

Between 9 and 18 July, Nigerian Police, the Navy, and the NSCDC independently intercepted pipeline vandalism and crude theft operations in five different states, arresting more than 20 suspects and recovering hundreds of pipe sections, weapons, and refining equipment. One arrest, in Imo State, implicated a retired police superintendent. Read together, the cluster points to a sustained national enforcement effort rather than a run of coincidental local busts.

Project Update

Algeria Breaks Ground on the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline. The Route Hasn't Gotten Any Safer.

Algeria has begun physical construction on its section of the 4,128km Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline, following a 3 June ministerial meeting in Algiers. The project would carry up to 30 billion cubic metres of Nigerian gas annually through Niger to Algeria's Mediterranean export infrastructure, positioned as an alternative supply route for Europe. First proposed in the 1970s, the pipeline has moved from memorandum to physical groundbreaking only now, and the route runs through some of the region's least secure territory.

Policy

NNPC Didn't Just Sign Chevron to the New Gas Network Code. It Signed Three Producers at Once.

At the 2026 Nigeria Oil and Gas Energy Week in Abuja, NNPC Limited disclosed that Chevron, the ANOH Gas Processing Company, and NNPC Exploration and Production together migrated their legacy interconnection arrangements to the new Nigerian Gas Transportation Network Code, unlocking up to 800 million standard cubic feet of gas per day. Most coverage treated Chevron's agreement as a standalone story. Read together with the other two, and with a separate UTM Floating LNG supply deal announced at the same event, it looks like the clearest evidence yet that Nigeria's standardized gas access framework is functioning as designed.

Project Update· Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline

ECOWAS Signs Off on the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline. The Hard Part Starts Now.

ECOWAS heads of state signed the Intergovernmental Agreement for the Nigeria-Morocco African Atlantic Gas Pipeline in Freetown on 19 July, establishing the governance structure needed to move the $25–27 billion, 6,900km project toward a Final Investment Decision: a Casablanca-based project company and an Abuja-headquartered Pipeline Higher Authority. Construction is targeted for 2028, with first gas deliveries projected in 2031.