Hommam Al Nassim 
Abdel Ghafour Al-Hajjawi, a Moroccan government official, announced that his country intends to launch a tender to build a floating liquefied natural gas terminal in the western Mediterranean port of Nador in northeastern Morocco.
Al-Hajwi said, in a presentation, that the Ministry of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development expects to achieve the financial closure of the project during the next year, with the construction, operation and commercial operations phase starting in 2026.
Nador, a deep-water port, is being built in the western Mediterranean and is expected to have a capacity of 3.5 million containers.
Last March, 4 ministries and 4 institutions in Morocco signed a protocol of agreement with the aim of completing the gas infrastructure development program in the country.
The gas infrastructure development program includes developing a terminal to import liquefied natural gas in the port of Nador, supporting gas pipelines linking basins producing local gas to consumers, and establishing a new gas pipeline connecting the terminal to the Maghreb-European pipeline.
Morocco is seeking to secure its energy needs at an accelerated rate, given its heavy reliance on imports to meet 96% of energy consumption.
The unemployment rate is rising in Morocco in light of the repercussions of the worst drought