Page 11 - DMEA Week 16 2022

DMEA PIPELINES DMEA

NNPC head sees AKK gas

pipeline launched in early 2023

AFRICA MELE Kyari, the group managing director of realistic and added that Nigeria was in a good
Nigerian National Petroleum Co. Ltd (NNPC position to make its gas production available to
Ltd), has said he expects the Ajaokuta-Kadu- both local and foreign buyers.
na-Kano (AKK) natural gas pipeline to begin For his part, Kyari described the AKK link
regular commercial operations in the first quar- as a “signature project” of the administration of
ter of 2023. Nigeria’s President Muhammad Buhari. He also
According to a statement issued by Kyari’s urged Nigeria to take advantage of its status as
leading spokesman Garba Muhammad, Kyari the holder of Africa’s largest gas reserves and said
said while leading NNPC board members on a that the AKK project might create thousands of
tour of Segment “A” of the pipeline in the Fed- new jobs.
eral Capital Territory (FCT) that he expected According to previous reports, the pipeline is
upstream producers to make sufficient volumes slated to pump gas from fields in the southern
of gas available for AKK on time. part of the country to new domestic customers,
This will allow the project to be launched on including thermal power plants (TPPs) with a
schedule, he said. combined generating capacity of 3,600 MW and
Emeka Okwuosa, the chairman of Oilserve, petrochemical producers that use gas as feed-
the Nigeria company serving as NNPC’s main stock. As such, it is a key component of the Nige-
contractor for work on Segment “A,” concurred. rian government’s domestic gasification strategy.
He told members of the board that he also antic- NNPC and its contractors began building the
ipated that AKK would be launched on sched- pipeline along a 614-km route that runs north-
ule in the first quarter of 2023. Oilserve’s project ward from the left bank of the Niger River in
managers and labourers are capable of finishing Kogi state to the capital city of Kano state in June
the job on time, he declared. 2020. When finished, the pipe will have a name-
Senator Margery Okadigbo, who serves as plate capacity of 99.11mn cubic metres per day
NNPC’s board chairperson, also expressed con- of gas, or approximately 36.175bn cubic metres
fidence in the timely launch of the AKK pipeline. per year.
She said that the work she had observed so Initially, throughput will run at around 56.64
far indicated that the projected launch date was mcm per day, or around 20.67 bcm per year.™

WAGP records highest ever daily delivery

AFRICA THE West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) River Authority (VRA) power generation utility.
recorded an average 215mn cubic feet (6mn WAGPCo is a consortium led by super-ma-
cubic metres) per day of gas delivery to its cus- jor Chevron and state-owned Nigerian National
tomers in March 2022. Petroleum Corp. (NNPC), which undertook the
The pipeline, which has historically suffered prolonged process of developing the landmark
from significant supply challenges, reached a regional link, inaugurated in 2008.
single-day peak of 258mmcf (7.3mcm) per day Germani said that the record constituted
during the period. remarkable progress and a demonstration of
The record was announced during the 10th how gas supply prospects of the WAGP had
Anniversary celebration of the company’s com- evolved. “Additionally, the WAGP has transi-
mercial operations in Tema, Ghana by Gregory tioned into a multi-shipper environment, allow-
Germani, Managing Director of West African ing access to multiple supply sources of natural
Gas Pipeline Co. (WAPCo), the Accra-based gas to multiple customers,” he was quoted as say-
owner of the pipeline carrying Nigerian gas to ing by Ghana Times.
three regional neighbours. Germani added that tariffs are now more
WAGP is a 678-km line extending from the competitive, fair and transparent while mean-
Itoki Natural Gas Export Terminal in the oil- ingful returns on investment were now part of
rich Escravos region of southeastern Nigeria the proposition.
to Takoradi in western Ghana, via Cotonou in According to WAGPCo, the pipeline’s Tema
Benin, Lome in Togo and Tema near Accra, Regulating and Metering (R&M) station is cur-
Ghana. The bulk of the gas is delivered to the rently undergoing expansion works as part of the
latter destination to supply the Ghanaian Volta Takoradi-Tema Interconnection Project.™

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