The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd ) in effort to drive industrialisation and economic growth through nationwide gas supply has announced its readiness to deliver the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben (OB3) Gas Pipeline project by August this year.
The company explained that the reason for the delay in the completion of the project over the past three years due to the River Niger Crossing operations.
The group chief executive officer of NNPC Ltd, Mele Kyari, who inspected the project in Delta state on Saturday affirmed the imminent completion of the project.
“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.
“Once completed, we will see about 2.2billion 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 half years. We are happy that this will give us the platform to unleash the gas revolution in our country,” Kyari said.
By design, the OB3 Gas pipeline links the Eastern gas pipeline network to the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS) in the West and the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Pipeline in the North.
The NNPCL in a statement signed by Olufemi Soneye, the Chief Corporate Communications Officer noted that the River Niger Crossing operation has impeded the completion of the project for over three years due to 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.
“But with the adoption of the Micro-Tunnelling/Direct Pipe Installation technology, the new contractors, Messrs HDD Thailand/Enikkom and Tunnelling Services Group (TSG), are making a headway with about 860meters out of the 1,800meters achieved so far,” it stated.
Also speaking on the project, the minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, expressed satisfaction with the pace of work at the OB3 River Niger Crossing operation, describing it as ‘Renewed Hope at work’.
“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.
Also, Seyi Omotowa, the managing director of NNPC Gas Infrastructure Company (NGIC), assured 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, will be achieved on schedule.