The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has listed a number of already completed 539 kilometres of gas pipelines between 2010 and this year, saying the feat stemmed from a directive handed down by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2010.
The directive was part of government’s efforts to raise seamless access to gas by power plants in parts of the country.
The delivered gas pipelines by the corporation include the 196km Oben Gas Plant to Geregu Power Plant pipeline, 110km Escravos-Warri-Oben gas pipeline, 128km Ukanafun-Calabar pipeline, 50km Emuren-Itoki pipeline, 31km Itoki-Olorunshogo pipeline and the 24km Imo River-Alaoji gas pipeline.
In his presentation at the just concluded Annual General Meeting of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) in Abuja, the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, said the accelerated expansion of the gas pipeline system was sequel to the directive of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who mandated the oil companies operating in the country to support the nation’s power generation efforts.
According to him, all available thermal power plants in the country were currently connected to permanent gas supply pipelines.
He noted that with the realisation of the Federal Government’s aspiration to expand the gas pipeline network to all parts of the country, about 2,700 megawatts of electricity was expected to be added to the national grid in the near future
Giving additional insights on the planned expansion of the gas infrastructure, Baru averred that the lines would be bolstered with the ongoing construction of the 127km East-West OB3 gas pipeline joining Oben to Obiafu-Obrikom.
However, the infrastructure was scheduled for completion by the fourth quarter of 2018, while the 363km looping expansion of the Escravos-Lagos Gas Pipeline System was expected to be delivered by the first quarter of next year.
