Emmanuel Addeh writes that the pivotal role played through Oilserv in accelerating the final touch of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) pipeline allocation underscores the reasoning that, if given the opportunity, Nigeria’s indigenous engineering companies can raise the level of functionality in the oil sector. .
The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 literally opened Nigerians’ eyes to the need to meet the capacity of their local businesses, especially in times of national emergency.
At the time, although many local corporations in the oil and fuel sector were managing to fill the huge void left by expatriates who were commonly stranded or called back to their home countries, many projects were virtually abandoned due to equipment shortages.
In fact, this has increased local construction capacity to meet desires to execute large projects such as the AKK pipeline, a 614 km long pipeline being developed through Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) to transport herbal fuel from southern Nigeria to parts of the country’s north.
The $2. 8 billion pipeline allocation is the first phase of the 1,300-kilometre-long Trans-Niger Gas Pipeline (TNGP) Project, which is part of Nigeria’s fuel master plan to use the country’s surplus fuel resources for power generation and consumption through domestic customers.
It is also part of the 4,401-kilometre-long Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline (TSGP), which is intended to export vegetable fuel to European customers, as Nigeria has the largest fuel reserves in Africa.
Like the other bulkheads, the first segment of the project, which begins in Ajaokuta, covers a distance of about two hundred kilometers and will carry up to 3. 5 billion cubic feet (mpc) of fuel per day from fuel collection projects in southern Nigeria.
Oilserv is a member of the consortium of two local corporations that won the engineering, procurement and structure (EPC) contract for the Ajaokuta-Abuja pipeline segment. Since then, it turns out the company hasn’t looked back.
The company, a leading EPC company in the oil and fuels sector, claims to have leveraged innovation to become a globally competitive embedded energy company, with a track record of delivering turnkey projects in Nigeria and across Africa while employing state-of-the-art technologies.
The group’s CEO, Oilserv Emeka Okwuosa, who runs the company running “A” the project, announced that it will be completed by July 2024.
During a stopover at the mission last week, while answering questions from Minister of State for Petroleum (Gas) Resources Ekperikpe Ekpo about the consultation on the Pai River crossing at the Kwali Regional Council of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Okwuosa said all hands were already on deck to make sure they were met.
Okwuosa pointed out that the Pai River crossing is special, hence the deployment of horizontal directional drilling (HDDT) technology to ensure the best execution of the project.
“From our timeline, I know we’ll be done next year. In terms of the main pipeline that will bring the gas, we are confident that by July or August next year, we will be complete.
“We have our timeline as we are and we are working hard to mitigate and make sure we meet our commitments. A lot of what we’re going to have to address over the next six months will be the river crossing area. “Our commitment is more than 100 percent,” he said.
Speaking about the importance of the AKK pipeline allocation for the progress of the national economy, Okwuosa explained that it is capable of driving progress in some parts of the country.
“Once finished, we would have fuel and NNPC, the owner, would deliver fuel to the northern part of Nigeria, but it would also stimulate the advancement of fuel in the southern part of Nigeria and also create a lot of wealth. south.
“With the fuel available, you have electricity, compressed vegetable fuel (CNG) that cars can run on, and you reduce dependence on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), you build fertilizer plants, you grow agriculture, etc.
“This task is going to replace the power landscape and Nigeria’s economy is going to replace it,” he said.
Nigeria seeks to enable economic diversification projects to expand the national fuel footprint, adding the Escravos-Lagos pipeline system (ELPS and ELPS II), the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben (OB3) gas pipeline and recently AKKArray Oilserv is also deeply concerned in the OB3. project.
According to the latest available data, more than $1. 1 billion in federal investments have been earmarked for the project, while none of the project’s activities have been abandoned to date.
Okwuosa believes that no matter how much underground fuel Nigeria has, if the country doesn’t exploit it, it will be a waste of resources.
“The task of the AKK is a very important task and its importance is reinforced by the fact that in order for us to expand as a country, we want energy and the most abundant source of energy in Nigeria is fuel. Luckily for us, we have a lot of the country’s fuel reserves.
“But fuel is meaningless if it can’t be produced and transported. Transportation is essential because it is not easy to store fuel; It will have to be moved from the point of production to where it would be used, and availability will depend on whether it will be used.
“The allocation of the AKK pipeline is therefore a major component of Nigeria’s fuel master plan, the backbone of the fuel transmission system. We have come a long way in terms of execution of the allocation. We are working intensively with NNPC as a visitor to deliver it,” he added.
According to him, the NNPC has funded the project from the beginning to deal with the negative effects of China’s lack of funding, noting that the Covid-19 lockdown and massive floods that occurred during the last rainy season have also had an effect on allocation in some way.
To ensure transparency in terms of financing allocations, the procurement procedure is supervised through the Infrastructure Concessions Regulatory Commission (ICRC) and approved through the Public Procurement Office (BPP).
“So far we have spent more than $1. 1 billion on this task from our cash flow. . . This company can finance this task, so we do not want this task to be carried out now,” said Mele Kyari of the NNPC. , in one of the conferences. Recent visits.
Visiting the site in June, Steve Nnorom, project manager at Oilserv Limited Pipelines and Facilities, recently revealed that the company is working quickly on the AKK pipeline project, despite some cash flow issues. Security issues have also been largely resolved.
What has become evident is the desire to inspire local content in the oil and fuels industry, as Oilserv has proven that it is not child’s play, even though it is an indigenous company.
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