The delivery date for the completion of the $700m Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben gas pipeline project, popularly called OB3, has been shifted from March 2024 to August, as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited announced its readiness to complete the facility.
The Federal Government had earlier this year declared that
the project would be completed in March this year, a project that commenced in
2016.
It announced this in February through the Minister of State
for Petroleum Resources, Gas, Ekperikpe Ekpo, at the 7th Nigeria International
Energy Summit in Abuja, where the minister described the OB3 gas pipeline as
one of the biggest gas transmission systems in both Nigeria and Africa.
“I am highly elated to announce that going by the contractor
estimates, the OB3 pipeline will be completed by March 2024 and the 42” 127km
pipeline will supply 2BCF (two billion standard cubic feet) per day,” Ekpo had
stated.
But in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday by the
spokesperson of NNPC, Olufemi Soneye, the oil firm declared that the project
would be completed in August.
The Group Chief Executive Officer, NNPC, Mele Kyari,
confirmed this during an inspection tour of the OB3 pipeline River Niger
Crossing operation at Aboh, Delta State, on Saturday, according to the
statement.
By design, the OB3 gas pipeline is the interconnector which
links the Eastern gas pipeline network to the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System in
the West and the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano pipeline in the North.
The River Niger Crossing operation has been the major
impediment to the completion of the strategic OB3 gas pipeline for over three
years, NNPC stated.
This, it said, was due to the failure of the various
technologies deployed to achieve the construction of the 48-inch pipe under the
river bed between Ndoni in Rivers State and Aboh in Delta State.
It, however, noted that with the adoption of the
Micro-Tunnelling/Direct Pipe Installation technology, the new contractors,
Messrs HDD Thailand/Enikkom and Tunnelling Services Group (TSG), were making a
headway with about 860mout of the 1,800m achieved so far.
Speaking after the inspection tour, Kyari expressed delight
at the breakthrough, which signalled the imminent completion of the project.
He was quoted as saying, “This is a major project of
monumental value to our country. What this means is that this is the only way
we can deliver the gas revolution. I am very happy and convinced that, latest
by the middle of August, we will complete this project. I have been assured of
that by the project team.”
On the significance of the project, he said, “Once
completed, we will see about 2.2 billion standard cubic feet of gas coming into
our network. We believe that this will give our country a breathing space of
demand, I am sure we can catch up with that kind of demand in the next one and
a half years. We are happy that this will give us the platform to unleash the
gas revolution in our country.”
Also speaking on the project during the tour, Ekpo expressed
satisfaction with the pace of work at the OB3 River Niger Crossing operation.
“I was here last year and I saw the work that was going on.
There was a promise that it would be completed by December last year. I took it
with a doubt. But today, from what I can see, I am confident that by July or
August, it will be completed and it will be commissioned by the President,” the
minister stated.
The Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Olu
Verheijen, said she was looking forward to the completion of the project having
been assured by the technical team that the right technology had been found to
resolve the complex challenges of the River Niger Crossing.
“As the minister and other speakers have said, we are
looking forward to having this project deliver prosperity to Nigerians in the
form of electricity and other areas,” Verheijen said.
The Managing Director, Tunnel Service Group, one of the
contractors to the project, Ingo Justen, who was on the ground to supervise the
project at the request of the NNPC boss, expressed confidence that the current
technology being applied in the execution of the project would lead to its
speedy conclusion.
In a presentation, the Managing Director, NNPC Gas
Infrastructure Company, Seyi Omotowa, disclosed that at the rate of progress
with the new technology deployed, the River Niger Crossing operation, which is
the only aspect of the OB3 Gas Pipeline Project left, would be achieved on
schedule.
The estimated cost for constructing the OB3 gas pipeline is
$700m. The project started sometime in 2016 and is also known as the East-West
Pipeline.
It connects the Obiafu-Obrikom gas plant near Omuku, Rivers
State, to Oben, Edo State and is to transport over two billion standard cubic
feet of gas per day.