Marruecos y China podrían estar en negociaciones debido a la crisis del gas

Morocco and China could find themselves in the making of agreements and business deals following the gas crisis produced by the closure of the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline by Algeria a few months ago. Specifically, the Ministry of Energy launched a Call for Expression of Interest (EOI) and according to the daily Africa Intelligence, the company China Communications Construction Co (CCCC) may be selected for the construction of the first Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FRSU) in the Alawi country.

The same source added that among the twenty or so candidates that have applied for the project, there is a consortium chaired by one of CCCC's subsidiaries, China Road & Bridge Corp (CRBC). This same subsidiary is made up of CCCC Third Harbour, a company specialised in the construction of port infrastructures, and also Wison Engineering, specialised in the petrochemical industry and based in the Chinese city of Shanghai.

The search for the creation of this gas pipeline is one of the main problems that the Kingdom is trying to solve after the closure of the gas pipeline by Algeria on 31 October, which led to the closure of two power plants, Ain Beni Mathar, south of Oujda, and Tahaddart, north of the city of Asilah. This problem and the circumstances between the two neighbouring countries had already been on the mind of the former energy minister, Aziz Rabbah, who had begun to implement the project allowing Morocco to import its liquefied natural gas reserves by sea and to regasify them before distributing them to certain customers and to the various power plants that are part of the National Office of Electricity and Water.  

This is not the first time that the two countries have entered into infrastructure agreements. This same company, CCCC, was the winner of the bid in 2019 for the realisation of a development project consisting of the creation of the technological city of Tangier.

CCCC, or China Communication Construction Co, is a company created in the Asian giant in 2006, which together with its subsidiaries is mainly responsible for the construction of transport infrastructures, dredging and heavy machinery manufacturing businesses.