The Federal Executive Council has given approval to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Ltd to execute a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, for the construction of the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline.

The approval was given at meeting of the Council presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on June 1.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, who briefed State House correspondents after the meeting, explained that pipeline would take gas to 15 West African Council and to Morocco and from Morocco to Spain and Europe.

“At this moment, we are still at the point of the front end engineering design.  It is only after the design of the pipeline that we know exactly what the cost of the pipeline will be,” Sylva said, when asked what the cost implications would be for the partners in the project.

The Minister said that the cabinet meeting also approved the construction of a switchgear room and installation of power distribution cables and equipment for the Nigeria Oil and Gas Park in Ogbia, Bayelsa State in the sum of N3.8billion.

“This park is to support local manufacturing of components for the oil and gas industry,” he said.

Sylva said Council also approved various contracts for the construction of an access road with bridges to the Brass Petroleum Product Deport in Inibomoyekiri  in Brass Local Government in the sum of N11billion plus 7.5% VAT.

The OPEC oil cartel and allied producing countries including Russia will raise production by 648,000 barrels per day in July and August, offering modest relief for a global economy suffering from soaring energy prices and the resulting inflation.

The decision Thursday steps up the pace by the alliance, known as OPEC+, in restoring cuts made during the worst of the pandemic recession. The group had been adding a steady 432,000 barrels per day each month to gradually restore production cuts from 2020.

The move to increase production faster than planned comes as rising crude prices have pushed gasoline to a record high in the U.S. There are fears that elevated energy prices could slow the global economy as it emerges from the pandemic.

The increase did not appear to ease concerns about tight supply and oil prices actually rose after the decision was announced Thursday.

U.S. crude, which had fallen by as much as $3 per barrel early in the day, reversing course and traded up 0.9% at $116.23. International benchmark Brent rose 0.7% at $117.02. Market traders may have expected more from the meeting, such as an indication from de facto OPEC leader Saudi Arabia that it could make up for any shortfall due to sanctions against Russia.

Instead the alliance’s statement merely mentioned reopening from COVID-19 lockdowns in “major global economic centers” and the end of seasonal maintenance work at refineries as justifications for the incremental increase. Lockdowns in Shanghai and Beijing have sapped fuel demand in China.

OPEC+ decisions have been complicated by the group’s failure to meet its production targets due to underinvestment and other roadblocks in some member countries. Actual production has lagged the scheduled increases.

OPEC, whose de facto leader is Saudi Arabia, has resisted pleas from the White House to increase oil supply to make up for production lost due to sanctions against Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.

That, along with a European Union agreement to end most oil imports from Russia, has pushed prices higher. Gasoline and diesel prices have also been rising due to a lack of refining capacity to turn crude into motor fuel.

In the U.S., crude prices are up 54% since the beginning of the year and gasoline prices are being pulled along.

The U.S. saw a record high average gasoline pump price on Thursday of $4.71 per gallon, according to AAA. The price of crude makes up about half the price of gasoline at the pump in the U.S., and prices could go even higher as the summer driving season gets under way. High gas prices for drivers are a potential factor in U.S. politics with mid-term Congressional elections approaching later this year.

Italy has become the only country in Europe to increase import, Even as the European Union decided to reduce Russian crude oil imports by 90% by the end of the year.

Meant to punish Russia for attacking Ukraine, the EU oil embargo is now putting at risk one of Italy’s largest refineries, located in Sicily, which would deal an economic blow to the depressed region’s economy.

Italy agreed with its EU partners to cut Russian crude imports by 2023, a move that Premier Mario Draghi called “a complete success,″ that ”just a couple of days ago wouldn’t have been believable.”

But Rome also has to deal with the fate of the refinery in Sicily owned by Russia’s Lukoil. As a result of previous sanctions against Russia, ISAB Srl has paradoxically gone from processing 15% of Russian crude to 100%.

That’s because banks have refused to take the risk of extending credit to Russia-controlled ISAB that would allow it to buy oil from non-Russian sources, even if not specifically barred from doing so, said Matteo Villa, an energy analyst at the ISPI think tank in Milan.

Italy in May received about 400,000 barrels of Russian oil a day in May, four times the pre-invasion levels, according to the Kpler commodity data company. Of that total, ISAB received 220,000 barrels a day from Russia.

“Italy is the only country in Europe increasing oil imports,” Villa said, going from the sixth-largest importer of Russian oil to the the largest in the three months since the invasion.

The plant employs 3,500 people at three production sites, including a refinery, gasification and electricity cogeneration plant, in Sicily’s Syracuse province, and risks closure if a solution isn’t found before the embargo kicks in. The plant and related activities generate half of the provincial gross domestic product and 8% of the region’s economic activity, processing one-fifth of Italy’s crude oil imports.

The refinery’s future was already at risk in the longer term, due to Italy’s energy transition to more sustainable sources. The embargo has only increased the sense of urgency to find a solution.

China’s government on Thursday accused Washington of jeopardizing peace after U.S. envoys began trade talks with Taiwan aimed at deepening relations with the self-ruled island democracy claimed by Beijing.

Talks that started Wednesday cover trade, regulation and other areas based on “shared values” as market-oriented economies, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. It did not mention China but the talks add to gestures that show U.S. support for Taiwan amid menacing behavior by Beijing, which threatens to invade.

Trade dialogues “disrupt peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” said a foreign ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian. He called on Washington to “stop negotiating agreements with Taiwan that have sovereign connotations and official nature.”

Taiwan and China split in 1949 after a civil war that ended with the ruling Communist Party’s victory on the mainland. They have multibillion-dollar trade and investment ties but no official relations. Beijing says Taiwan has no right to conduct foreign relations.

Zhao accused Washington of encouraging sentiment in Taiwan in favor of declaring formal independence, a step Beijing has said previously would be grounds for an invasion.

The trade initiative is “intended to develop concrete ways to deepen the economic and trade relationship” and “advance mutual trade priorities based on shared values,” said a statement by the office of USTR Katherine Tai.

Taiwan is the ninth-largest U.S. trading partner and an important manufacturing center for computer chips and other high-tech products.

President Joe Biden said May 23 while visiting Tokyo that the United States would intervene militarily if China were to invade Taiwan. He said the U.S. commitment to help the island defend itself was “even stronger” following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and expressed support for the island during her second visit in a year to Taiwan.

On Monday, China sent 30 military aircraft toward Taiwan in the latest of a series of flights aimed at intimidating the island’s democratically elected government. Taiwan’s defense ministry said it sent up fighter planes and put air defense missile systems on alert.