Moroccan government is planning to prepare floating LNG imports infrastructure (FSRU) after Algeria ended gas supplies through a pipeline on the end of October, the country's energy minister said, adding that the infrastructure will help lower the cost of LNG imports for private operators.
It is also examining financial and gas supply details for a FSRU that would guarantee all of Morocco’s gas needs as a possible location for the FSRU is where it could plug into the now-discontinued Algeria-Spain pipeline.
Morocco currently has only small gas consumption, estimated at a little over 1 BCM/Y, and sources its gas from Algeria as part of its agreement to transit Algerian gas to Spain. However, it is looking increasingly to gas and renewables to reduce its coal-fired power generation.
Following a year of worsening relations between Algiers and Rabat before a pipeline deal expired on Oct. 31, Algeria said it would supply Spain through a different pipeline and would no longer send gas to Morocco.
Morocco’s local gas production is expected to reach 0.11 BCM in 2021, while its consumption stands at 1 BCM/Y. Most of it was once supplied by the halted pipeline. Morocco’s natural gas needs would triple to 3 BCM by 2040.

Related developments quoted from the Global LNG Database ®:

On 24 May 2021, Predator Oil & Gas announced that it has submitted a proposal to build and operate a floating LNG import project in Morocco where it is already active in the upstream section. Last month, the country's energy ministry had invited bids with a deadline of May 31.
The initial scope of the FSRU project in Morocco is for a requirement of 1.1 BCM/Y by 2025 rising to 1.7 BCM/Y in 2030 and 3 BCM/Y in 2040, Predator said, adding that the FSRU project in Morocco was envisaged to be a much longer-term project that does not compete with the company's short- and medium-term plans to develop Guercif gas field. "It is potentially a complementary addition to the company's business development strategy for Morocco to increase both materiality and the potential for future gas exports to Europe once the domestic Moroccan gas market reaches capacity.”
Guercif is located near the GME gas pipeline to Spain and could support "multiple development scenarios" both for the domestic and international gas markets, UK-based company said.

 

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