Page 6 - AfrOil Week 09 2021

AfrOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT AfrOil

AKK pipeline project under scrutiny

NIGERIA MELE Kyari, the group managing director construction and engineering services, leaving
of state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum pipeline procurement to Brentex and financing
Corp. (NNPC), has sounded an upbeat note on to CPP. But Bolaji Isiaka, Bablinks’ managing
the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) pipeline, director and CEO, has claimed that his com-
saying that work on this domestic natural gas pany was never permitted to carry out the work,
artery is moving forward. However, the project even though it provided the technical expertise
has drawn some unwelcome attention lately. needed to execute the project. He also told leg-
Kyari reportedly announced during a virtual islators last week that Bablinks’ exclusion had
event organised by the Nigerian Gas Association been in violation of Nigeria’s local content law
(NGA) last week that NNPC was on track to fin- because it created an opening for CPP to hire
ish extending the 614-km AKK pipeline across more Chinese workers.
the Niger river by the end of March. At the event, NNPC has responded by defending its deci-
Yusuf Usman, the company’s chief operating sion to work with Brentex and by saying it has
officer for gas and power, quoted the managing abided by all relevant regulations on the use of
director as saying that the link would benefit local content. For his part, Sani Abubakar, the
Nigeria by allowing it to move gas from fields in executive vice-chairman of Brentex Nigeria, told
the east to the western part of the country. members of the House of Representatives last
week that local content rules had been upheld
Contractor disputes because his company was Nigerian-owned.
This announcement was made shortly after Legislators responded by saying they
members of Nigeria’s House of Representatives intended to seek more information on the dis-
raised questions about NNPC’s contracting pute. They asked all of the companies involved
practices for the project. In response to a peti- to submit contractual documentation for review
tion submitted by a local advocacy group, the and said they intended to invite representatives
legislators submitted a query for the purpose of of Nigeria’s Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP)
determining whether the state-owned company to testify..
had unlawfully prevented Bablinks Resources, a
Nigerian firm, from carrying out its obligations Legal dispute
under the $2.6bn contract for construction of Nigerian lawmakers met to discuss the matter
the 318.6-km Kaduna-Kano section of the pipe. shortly after the AKK project ran into a legal
Bablinks had originally teamed up with snag, with the head of the Federal High Court
Brentex Nigeria, another local firm, and Chi- in Kano State issuing an order suspending con-
na’s CPP for the project. It had hoped to provide struction work on the project.

The AKK pipeline will be 614 km long (Image: Obor Invest)

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 09 03•March•2021