Trans-Sahara pipeline – more than mirage

THEY MAY seem little more than a mirage, but there are real plans to build a 4,300 km pipeline across the Sahara desert to take Nigerian gas to Europe. Starting from a point in Nigeria, the Trans-Sahara gas pipeline would cross the border into neighbouring Niger, then up across the desert into Algeria, where it would link with Sonatrach's existing network. From there, it could make the final journey across the Mediterranean through a number of existing or proposed sub-sea pipeline routes. The idea is popular with both the Algerian state-owned oil company and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the driving forces behind the so-called Nigal (Nigeria-Algeria) project, with Europe ce