The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on Thursday said it would conclude tenders for the construction of the 650km Ajaokuta-Abuja-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline by the second quarter of this year.
It also stated that the project would soon be awarded under a contractor financing scheme, adding that similar gas pipeline projects were ongoing and were at various stages of completion.
In November last year, the corporation promised to drive an energy supply project that would power industries in Kaduna by ensuring the completion of the Ajaokuta-Abuja-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline.
The Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, had also said the proposed gas pipeline would help energise the 215 megawatts Kudende Power Plant and provide energy for a proposed fertiliser company to be sited in the state.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ Oloibiri Lecture Series and Energy Forum in Abuja, the Group Managing Director, NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, stated that when completed, the gas pipeline would address the supply challenges being experienced in many areas that the facility would pass through.
The theme of this year’s SPEOLEF lecture was: ‘Domestic gas utilisation in Nigeria: From producers to users’.
When asked to state when the corporation would conclude the procurement exercise for the AAK gas pipeline, Baru said, “We intend that we should conclude the tenders latest by the end of the second quarter, but we are determined to conclude most of the processes at the end of this first quarter.”
The NNPC boss had during his key note address stated that other gas pipeline projects were ongoing in order to meet the gas demands of Nigeria as well as enhance the country’s ability to export the commodity.
Ongoing gas pipelines projects that are at various stages of completion, according to Baru, include the strategic 127km East-West Obiafo/Obirikom to Oben (OB3) pipeline that is scheduled for completion by the end of this year, and the looping of the Escravos-Lagos Gas Pipeline System from Warri to Lagos, which is scheduled for completion by July.
