NEGOTIATING RESOURCE SOVEREIGNTY, FUELING CONFLICTS: THE CASE OF WEST AFRICAN GAS PIPELINE PROJECT By Mike Karikpo Programme Manager Energy and Climate Change (ERA) Introduction The West African gas pipeline project is a 681 kilometre onshore and offshore gas transportation project which will run from Nigeria to Ghana. The onshore component of the project is about 57-km and would commence from a point at Alagbado “T” in Ogun state where it would be linked to the existing Escravos –Lagos pipeline originating in the creeks of the Niger Delta and would transport natural gas to Ghana, Togo and Benin republic. The project is designed to substitute abundant and cheap natural gas from Nigeria for alternate fuels used for power generation, industrial, mining and the commercial sectors of the economies of the receiving West African states. Spurs would be built from Togo and Benin to connect to the West African Gas pipeline which would be laid on the sea bed of the Atlantic Ocean along the coastlines of the all four countries. According to the Project Appraisal Document (PAD) prepared by the World Bank to make the case for its participation in the project through the provision of loans to Ghana and to the West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPco) respectively in the form of political risk guarantee loans. Political risk guarantee loans are required by a multinational company against the risk of a breach of contract by a government involved in a contractual agreement with the company. These loans are usually received from the World Bank, the European Investment Bank etc who have the political and economic muscle to insist that countries abide by their contractual obligation even if such countries discover later that such obligations are obnoxious and not in the interest of their countries. Most multinational companies would insist on this loan being taken in countries that are thought to be politically unstable and also facing economic woes. The project also supports the