Morocco Picks Advisers for Tender

Moroccan state electricity utility ONEE has appointed two advisers to help with its major gas-to-power tender.

It has appointed HSBC Bank Middle East, based in the UAE, as overall commercial adviser with a contract worth $7.2mn; and Ashurst, based in France, as its legal adviser, with a €1.9mn ($1.98mn) contract. The announcements were made earlier this week but the awards were conferred in late November and mid-December respectively.

ONEE’s director of power generation projects Tariq Hamane told NGW June 24 that the gas-to-power tender consists of a 5bn m³/yr onshore LNG receiving terminal, pipelines and 2.4 GW of CCGTs: two gas-fired power plants, each of 1.2 GW. One developer or consortium will be chosen for the entire package; 93 companies submitted expressions of interest early last year, including big oil firms like Shell and Total and major international utilities.

Morocco last month signed a long-term agreement with Nigeria to promote a regional gas pipeline project that would connect the two countries. Investors will need to be assured that the pipe project, which could take decades to achieve, will not be to the detriment of LNG investment in Morocco.

Mark Smedley