Officials from French energy major Total SA (TOT) and Russian gas giant OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) both confirmed interest in the proposed $12-billion Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline Wednesday.
"I will say it publicly, Total is ready to be involved in this project," Total Managing Director in Nigeria Guy Maurice said at a gathering of the oil and gas industry in Abuja.
Gazprom Nigeria Managing Director Vladimir Ilyanin echoed this sentiment. "We're very interested in the TSGP," he said. "Definitely we would want to continue expanding our reach in the global gas market."
Gazprom expects a joint venture agreement with Nigeria within a month.
"Nigeria is a strategic destination for Gazprom," Ilyanin said. It's a very important country for us."
Ilyanin confirmed that Gazprom would invest about $2.5 billion in Nigeria's gas sector, but didn't elaborate further.
The TSGP is a proposed 4,000-kilometer pipeline linking Nigeria to Algeria, and would immediately become a major supplier of natural gas to Europe. Initial estimates predict the pipeline to be operational by 2015, but many political and logistical obstacles remain.