Nigeria on Friday in Abuja signed an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) with Algeria and Niger Republic to promote the Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline (TSGP) project, the News Agency of Nigeria reported.

The agreement was signed by Nigeria's Minister of Petroleum Resources, Rilwan Lukman, Algerian Minister of Mines and Energy, Chakib Khelil, and Malam Mohammed Abdoulahi, Niger's Minister of Mines and Energy.

Lukman said the signing of the agreement is a significant stride in the actualization of a key element of the joint protocolon regional cooperation and development.

He described the event as a milestone in the collaborative effort to commercialize the country's huge natural gas resources.

The minister said the project, designed about 30 years ago, had been delayed because of the need to obtain comprehensive feasibility studies to establish its techno-economic viability.

"A lack of a socio-economic framework for regional development has also contributed to the delay," he added.

According to him, other factors were the absence of a gas market in the transit countries and limited market opportunities for the TSGP in Europe.

Lukman said the improved bilateral relations between Abuja and Algiers since the conception of the project, the socio-economic imperatives of NEPAD and the AU had given an impetus for the resuscitation of the project.

He said the project would facilitate the development of the economies of the three countries and provide another platform for a sustainable and reliable energy supply to Europe, thus ensuring security of supply.

In his remarks, Khelil said with the IGA, the three countries had worked out a development program to better the lot of their citizens.

"There is no problem in financing the project and there is also no problem in finding the market. The market is secure, but there is a need to securities the market,'' Khelil said.

Pledging Algeria's support to the TSGP, he urged the contributing countries to pursue the project with vigor, expertise, technology and the necessary funding.

In his comments, Abdoulahi said Niger Republic wholly supported the project and would work hard to see its actualization.

He said his country was committed to the development of the economies of the transit states and assured the partners of the security and safety of the pipeline network.