Summary
Algeria and Nigeria, two of Africa's top energy producers, recently began talks on the development of a trans-Saharan gas pipeline. Several factors will limit the project's short-term feasibility. But the two countries may capitalize on the talks to expand more important political cooperation aimed at securing positions as future regional leaders.
Analysis
Twelve-hundred miles through the heart of the great Sahara desert is not an easily traversed distance, yet that is the length natural gas from Nigeria's southern Delta
Algeria and Nigeria, two of Africa's top energy producers, recently began talks on the development of a trans-Saharan gas pipeline. Several factors will limit the project's short-term feasibility. But the two countries may capitalize on the talks to expand more important political cooperation aimed at securing positions as future regional leaders.
Analysis
Twelve-hundred miles through the heart of the great Sahara desert is not an easily traversed distance, yet that is the length natural gas from Nigeria's southern Delta
region would have to travel to reach Algeria's pipeline network. Plans for a trans-Saharan gas pipeline lurched forward this past month, when the governments of Algeria and Nigeria signed a memorandum laying the groundwork for negotiations.
The global economic slowdown and drop in energy prices will limit the pipeline's feasibility for the foreseeable future. But the talks could pave the way for a new era in Algerian-Nigerian cooperation and could herald the emergence of a new geopolitical alignment that would impact the entire continent.
