Page 6 - AfrOil Week 04 2020
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PIPELINES & TRANSPORT
AfrOil
It is meant to serve as the first section of the Trans-Nigeria Gas Pipeline (TNGP) and will deliver gas to domestic thermal power plants (TPPs), NNPC. As a result, it will help bring Nigeria’s total generating capacity above the 10,000-MW mark and make electricity available to a larger share of the population, the company said.
According to NNPC, the pipeline will carry gas from seven development projects that are already underway. It will have a design capacity of 3.5bn cubic feet (99.11mn cubic metres) per day, or about 36.175bn cubic metres per year), and initial throughput will amount to 2 bcf per day (56.64 mcm per day, or around 20.67 bcm per year).
NNPC hopes to begin building the AKK line before the end of 2020. It has chosen a
consortium formed by Chinese and local com- panies to act as its contractor for work on the pipe and compressor stations.
CNPC, NNPC began loan talks in 2018 (Photo: NNPC)
LAPSSET project gains AU support
KENYA
KENYA’S Lamu Port, South Sudan, Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) infrastructure venture gained the status of an African Union (AU) pri- ority project this month, potentially helping the government in Nairobi attract financing for the ambitious endeavour.
The broad infrastructure project, priced at $26bn, comprises a refined fuel pipeline, a crude oil pipeline, a sea port, roads, airports, a railway and resort cities. But progress on the decade-old planhasbeenslowedbycivilissuesandalackof buy-in from the governments involved.
Civil war in neighbouring South Sudan has also delayed execution.
Most of the work that has taken place has been in Kenya, where a road between Isiolo and Moyale on the Ethiopian border was com- pleted in July 2017. Last year the LAPSSET Corridor Development Authority (LCDA) also announced the completion of the first of Lamu’s 22 planned berths.
Under the LAPSSET masterplan, the prod- ucts pipeline would eventually extend from Moyale to Hawassa and then to Addis Ababa. Ethiopia’s rapprochement with neighbouring Eritrea has been seen as weakening its commit- ment to the project.
Lacking anywhere near enough funding, the Kenyan government has turned to the AU and other regional investment groups to carry the project forward.
AU High Representative for Infrastructure Development Raila Odinga announced LAPS- SET’s adoption as an AU project on January 19 at a ceremony in Kenya. The event was attended by ministers from Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan, who signed a memorandum on its devel- opment and funding. Also present were repre- sentatives of prospective financiers, including the African Development Bank (AfDB), the
United Nations Economic Mission of Africa and the African Union’s New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD).
“This project will now not only connect Kenya with Ethiopia and South Sudan, but with other West Africa countries once it is com- pleted,” Odinga said. “As an AU project, it will link with other continental corridors such as East Africa Northern Corridor, East Africa Cen- tral Corridor and provide a land bridge through theAfricanGreatLakesregion.”
With its new status, the AU will recommend LAPSSET for financing to investors. Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan have agreed to form a steering committee with financiers to co-ordi- nate the project’s implementation.
Proposed pipeline route (Image: LAPSSET)
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w w w. N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 04 29•January•2020
