Page 7 - AfrOil Week 09 2021

AfrOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT AfrOil

Justice Sa’adatu Mark said he had taken this step widely available throughout the country.
in response to the submission of documents The pipe will have a design capacity of 3.5bn
alleging that NNPC and its contractors did not cubic feet (99.11mn cubic metres) per day, or
follow due process when acquiring land for the about 36.175bn cubic metres per year. Initially,
pipeline. The order will stand until mid-April, throughput will amount to 2 bcf (56.64 mcm)
when the court is due to resume discussions, per day, or around 20.67 bcm per year.
according to Nigerian press reports. As such, the project will significantly increase
NNPC’s contractors are building the AKK the volume of gas available on Nigeria’s domestic
pipeline along a 614-km route that runs north- market.
ward from the left bank of the Niger river in Kogi The cost of construction is expected to reach
State to the capital city of Kano State. AKK is due $2.8bn. NNPC is financing 85% of this sum
to serve as the first section of the Trans-Nigeria with a loan facility from China Export & Credit
Gas Pipeline (TNGP) but will also pump gas to Insurance Corporation (Sinosure) that is due to
domestic TPPs, thereby making electricity more be repaid over a period of 12 years. ™

EACOP route map (Image: African Energy Chamber)

Tanzania, Uganda comment on

start date for EACOP construction

TANZANIA/UGANDA TANZANIA and Uganda appear to have slightly director, who assured me that all is set for the
different expectations about the start date for construction of the pipeline to kick off in the
work on the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline second week of next month,” he said.
(EACOP), which will pump crude from fields He continued: “The construction of the pipe-
near Lake Albert to the coast of the Indian line will begin in the second half of March. This
Ocean. is a great step, and the construction will be com-
According to Palamagamba Kabudi, the pleted in 2024.”
foreign minister of Tanzania, construction may Kabudi was speaking on the same day that
begin as soon as mid-March. Kabudi told report- Robert Kasande, the permanent secretary
ers in Dar es Salaam last week that France’s Total, of Uganda’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral
which is leading the EACOP scheme, intends to Development, indicated that he expected work
launch the project in mid-March. After meeting on EACOP to begin before the end of March.
with Nicolas Terraz, Total’s director for Africa, “We expect construction of the pipeline to start
during a visit to France last week, he said that shortly after we have finalised FIDs [final invest-
Total had confirmed its intent to begin work ment decisions], and we expect to conclude the
within the next few weeks. FIDs by the end of March,” he was quoted as say-
“While in France, I held talks with Total’s ing by Reuters.

Week 09 03•March•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P7