The planned accord, expected to be signed by Nigerian President Bola Tinubu and Mohammed VI, follows the completion of preliminary technical studies for the project, also known as the African Atlantic Gas Pipeline.

Nigeria’s foreign ministry said the development was discussed during a telephone conversation last Friday between Foreign Minister Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu and Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita.

The pipeline project, first agreed roughly a decade ago, is designed to span about 6,900 kilometers along a hybrid offshore and onshore route linking Nigeria to Morocco through several West African countries.

Amina Benkhadra, head of Morocco’s state hydrocarbons and mining agency ONHYM, told Reuters last month that the project would have a maximum annual capacity of 30 billion cubic meters of gas, including around 15 billion cubic meters intended for Morocco’s domestic market and onward exports to Europe.

The initiative forms part of broader efforts by African producers to strengthen regional energy integration and capitalize on European demand for alternative gas supplies following disruptions to global energy markets in recent years.

Nigeria, Africa’s largest natural gas producer, has long sought to expand export infrastructure beyond existing liquefied natural gas facilities, while Morocco has positioned itself as a strategic energy transit hub between Africa and Europe.

The two governments also discussed expanding cooperation in fertilizer production and distribution, highlighting the sector’s role in strengthening food security across Africa, according to the Nigerian foreign ministry.

Both sides further emphasized reviving the Nigeria-Morocco Business Council to encourage trade and investment under the framework of the African Continental Free Trade Area and an existing bilateral double taxation treaty.

Regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said the drone struck a civilian minibus in Kherson, part of a continuing pattern of attacks on populated areas since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago.Hours later, another Russian attack targeted a second minibus in the city, wounding the driver, Prokudin said.

On Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, a separate Russian strike damaged port infrastructure in Odesa, though no casualties were reported.While civilian areas continued to come under fire, Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces had taken control of the village of Myropillia in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, near the Russian border.

The battlefield claim could not be independently verified, and Ukrainian authorities did not immediately comment.The roughly 1,250-kilometer front line remains largely static despite months of fighting, with U.S.-backed diplomatic efforts failing to secure a ceasefire.

Recent international focus on the Iran war has also shifted attention away from the conflict in Ukraine.In Russia, officials in the Krasnodar region said firefighters had extinguished a blaze at an oil terminal in the Black Sea port city of Tuapse that broke out Friday following a Ukrainian strike.

Ukraine has repeatedly targeted the Tuapse refinery and export terminal in recent weeks as part of a broader campaign aimed at disrupting Russian oil exports, a major source of wartime revenue for the Kremlin.

The economic effect of those strikes remains uncertain, however, as higher global oil prices linked to the Iran war and a partial easing of U.S. sanctions have helped offset some of the pressure on Moscow’s energy revenues.