Brussels, 06/07/2009 (Agence Europe) - In Abuja on Friday 3 July, Algeria, Niger and Nigeria signed an intergovernmental agreement for the construction of the trans-Saharan gas pipeline (EUROPE 9464), a large-scale intercontinental gas transport project supported by the European Commission in the name of the diversification of sources and routes of energy supply. The trans-Saharan gas pipeline (TSGP), which comes in the framework of NEPAD, will connect Nigeria with Algeria via Niger and then extend to the EU by means of the under-sea gas pipelines Medgaz (connection with Spain) and Galsi (connection with Italy via Sardinia). With a forecast transport capacity of between 20 and 30 billion m³ a year, the TSGP will be 4188 km in length, 1037 of which on Nigerian soil, 841 of which will pass through Niger and 2310 through Algeria. The pipeline, costs for which have been estimated at 10 billion dollars, is scheduled to open for business in 2015. A fibre optic telecommunications network will run alongside it. European energy companies, including Total of France, the UK-Netherlands company Royal Dutch Shell and Italy's ENI, and also the Russian gas company Gazprom, have already expressed their interest in the project, particularly as the known gas reserves of Nigeria, which is already considered a major supplier, are the largest in Africa and the seventh largest in the world. (E.H./trans.fl)