Morocco halts $1 billion Mediterranean LNG import project

11:20

By: Dakir Madiha

Morocco halts $1 billion Mediterranean LNG import project

His Majesty King Mohammed VI presided over a recent meeting where the palace confirmed the Nador West Med port remains on track for service in the fourth quarter of 2026. Morocco has indefinitely frozen its ambitious plan to build a liquefied natural gas import hub at the Nador West Med port on its Mediterranean coast, dealing a setback to the North African nation's strategy to diversify energy supplies and shift away from coal.

The Ministry of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development announced Monday it is suspending a tender launched last month for pipelines linking the port to key industrial zones. Officials cited "new parameters and assumptions associated with this project" but offered no further details on the reasons for the hold.

The roughly 1 billion dollar initiative aimed to establish Morocco’s first LNG import terminal using a floating storage and regasification unit at the soon to open Nador West Med port. It included pipelines connecting to the existing Maghreb Europe gas pipeline. The links would enable supply to two power plants and to industrial areas along the Atlantic coast at Mohammedia and Kenitra. More than 80 operators had shown interest during an earlier phase completed in July 2025. Bids for the FSRU unit were due by January 30. Bid openings were planned for February 2, which was the same day the suspension was declared

The terminal was designed to handle 5 billion cubic meters of gas annually, expandable to 7.5 billion, forming a core step toward Morocco's goal of boosting gas consumption to 8 billion cubic meters by 2027 from about 1 billion currently.

This pause comes as Morocco navigates regional energy ties. Since Algeria cut gas flows through the Maghreb-Europe pipeline in 2021 amid diplomatic tensions, Morocco has sourced gas from Spain via the reversed pipeline. In 2025, it imported a record 10,375 GWh of natural gas from Spain, up 7% from the prior year. The country seeks to cut coal reliance while advancing renewables to 52% of installed capacity by 2030. Natural gas serves as a bridge fuel for manufacturing industries exporting to Europe.