Morocco Looks to Resume $1 Billion LNG Plan ‘in Due Course’
(Bloomberg) -- Morocco will issue new tenders to develop a liquefied natural gas terminal on its Mediterranean coast “in due course,” a top official said, signaling the kingdom’s $1 billion energy project is still on the table.
The North African country, which imports much of its power needs, surprised markets on Monday by announcing an indefinite pause of the initiative that also involves new pipelines connecting the Nador West Med port to major industrial areas.
“Constant changes” affecting the global natural gas market have forced Morocco to review the project’s parameters and assumptions, Mohamed Ouhmed, a senior official at the Energy Transition and Sustainable Development Ministry, told Bloomberg.
Still, fresh tenders will be announced in future, he said by phone, declining to elaborate on the turbulence he described.
Global gas markets have been jumpy so far this year, with sharp price swings from the US to Europe on weather shifts, geopolitical risks and hectic moves by speculators. Benchmark futures dropped this week after a scorching rally in January, reviving concern about global volatility following relative calm in late 2025.
Morocco is freezing its LNG plans just as new capacity is expected from countries ranging from the US to Mozambique and Qatar over the next few years, with the surge in supply expected to ease prices.
The kingdom’s decision came just days after King Mohammed VI held a meeting about the new deepwater facility with officials that included Energy Transition and Sustainable Development Minister Leila Benali and Finance and Economy Minister Nadia Fettah Alaoui.
Benali appeared to address the issue, telling lawmakers on Tuesday that concerns among “public and private stakeholders” were partly to blame for “delays and setbacks” affecting natural gas projects and infrastructure in Morocco.
Those concerns involved “potential monopolies that could ultimately lead to unreasonable prices” for consumers, Benali said.
Ongoing reform of state-owned hydrocarbon and mining agency ONHYM to become a joint stock company will “ensure competitive prices for energy, including natural gas,” Benali added. ONHYM holds minority stakes in small-scale domestic natural gas development projects in the country.
The terminal at Nador’s new port was slated to have a design capacity of 5 billion cubic meters a year — more than four times the nation’s current annual demand of 1.2 billion. It was supposed to be followed by at least two other entry points on the Atlantic coast over the medium term, as part of a project to spend $3.5 billion to boost gas consumption to 12 billion cubic meters by 2030.
(Adds comments from minister in eighth paragraph)
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