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AfrOil COMMENTARY AfrOil

The OB3 link will carry gas to TPPs (Image: Seplat Petroleum)

Nigerian pipeline progress

The West African state’s gas-to-power programme hinges on
the success of pipeline projects, which have a mixed record

NIGERIA’S government has declared 2020 to be gas to power stations is the Obiafu-Obrikom-
the “Year of Gas” – that is, a year in which the Oben (OB3) link.
WHAT: country takes full advantage of its ample natu- Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC)
The OB3 pipeline project ral and associated gas resources. As part of that had originally hoped to bring this conduit on
has encountered further initiative, it is promoting domestic consumption stream in 2017, but it has obviously fallen far
delays, while work on the of natural gas. behind schedule.
AKK pipeline should start To be sure, Abuja has already scored some Last week, it pushed the target date for com-
soon. successes on this front, especially in the area pletion back once again, citing the technical
of power generation. According to the Inter- difficulties encountered by Nestoil, one of its
WHY: national Energy Agency (IEA), gas-burning contractors.
Both links will deliver gas thermal power plants (TPPs) accounted for no NNPC had originally tasked Nestoil, a Nige-
to TPPs. less than 80% of the country’s electricity produc- rian engineering, procurement, construction
tion as of 2019. Nevertheless, the government and commissioning (EPCC) company, and
WHAT NEXT: is backing efforts to build more gas-fired TPPs Oilserv, another Nigerian service provider, with
Abuja has tasked a com- – and it will need more gas to feed them. And to building OB3.
mittee with submitting a supply the plants with gas, it will need pipelines. As noted above, the two contractors were
report on domestic gas So far, its record on pipeline construc- originally due to finish the link three years ago
pricing within 30 days. tion has been mixed, as recent developments but proceeded more slowly than anticipated.
demonstrate. Oilserv completed its section of the pipeline
in 2019, but Nestoil is now on track to wrap up
OB3 pipeline delayed work in December 2020 or the first quarter of
One of the pipelines that is being built to deliver 2021, Business Day reported last week.

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 26 01•July•2020