W.Africa gas project gets $1.55 mln US cash boost

LAGOS, Oct 12 (Reuters) - The United States will provide $1.55 million in technical aid this year for the West African Gas Pipeline Project led by the No. 2 U.S. oil company Chevron Corp. , West African officials said. The Nigeria headquarters of the Economic Community of West African States said the offer had been conveyed to its executive head, Lansana Kouyate.

The grant was part of a total $1.9 million package the United States had approved to support regional integration in West Africa, an ECOWAS statement said.

"A substantial part of the money, about $1.55 million, would be spent on providing technical support for the West African Gas Pipeline Project," it said.

The money had been channelled through the United States Agency for International Development, it said.

The planned 800 km (500 miles) pipeline will cost an estimated $500 million and take gas from oilfields in Nigeria's Niger Delta to Benin Republic, Togo and Ghana. It is seen by ECOWAS as heralding an era of regional integration.

Nigeria and its three regional neighbours as well as Chevron, the operator, have signed initial agreements for implementation of the project, to be funded by private investors.

Abundant gas from Nigeria is expected to be a major catalyst for the development of West Africa, replacing more expensive liquid fuel to fire power plants in the region.

A feasibility study of the project was completed in March 1999. Project teams based in Houston, Tx. and in the capitals of the four West African countries are working to define the scope of the complex project.

The latest edition of the project newsletter, WAGP News, said the next step would be the final investment decision, involving the creation of the West African Gas Pipeline Co. that will own and operate the pipeline.

Chevron leads the so-called Commercial Group that includes Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria and the state oil or gas companies of the four West African countries.