NNPC shifts $700m gas pipeline delivery date to August

The $700 million Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben gas pipeline project, also known as OB3, was originally scheduled to be completed in March 2024, but the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has since declared that it is prepared to finish the facility in August 2024.

The Federal Government announced on February 28, 2024, that the project, which started in 2016, will be finished in March of this year.

At the 7th Nigeria International Energy Summit in Abuja in February, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Gas, Ekperikpe Ekpo, made the announcement. The minister referred to the OB3 gas pipeline as one of the largest gas transmission lines in both Nigeria and Africa.

According to contractor estimations, I am thrilled to say that the OB3 pipeline will be completed by March 2024 and the 42” 127km pipeline will supply 2BCF (two billion standard cubic feet) per day,” Ekpo had stated.
However, NNPC's spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye, stated in a statement released in Abuja on Sunday that the project would be finished in August.

According to the statement, Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC, verified this on Saturday while leading an inspection trip of the OB3 pipeline River Niger Crossing operation at Aboh, Delta State.

The OB3 gas pipeline connects the Eastern gas pipeline network to the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano pipeline in the North and the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System in the West by design.

The main obstacle to finishing the vital OB3 gas pipeline has been the River Niger Crossing operation for more than three years, according to NNPC.

It claimed that this resulted from the failure of the various technologies deployed to achieve the construction of the 48-inch pipe under the river bed between Ndoni in Rivers State and Aboh in Delta State.
Though only around 860m of the 1,800m reached thus far, it did observe that the new contractors, Messrs HDD Thailand/Enikkom and Tunnelling Services Group (TSG), were making progress with the use of the Micro-Tunnelling/Direct Pipe Installation technology.

After the inspection tour, Kyari gave a speech in which he expressed his happiness at the breakthrough that indicated the project will soon be completed.

The statement, "This is a major project of monumental value to our country," was attributed to him. This indicates that there is no other way for us to implement the gas revolution. I'm confident that we will finish this project by the middle of August at the latest, which makes me extremely happy. The project team has guaranteed that to me.

Regarding the importance of the undertaking, he stated, "Once completed, we will see about 2.2 billion standard cubic feet of gas coming into our network. We believe that this will give our country a breathing space of demand, I am sure we can catch up with that kind of demand in the next one and a half years. We are happy that this will give us the platform to unleash the gas revolution in our country.”
During the tour, Ekpo also spoke about the project and expressed happiness with the rate of progress at the OB3 River Niger Crossing operation.

"I witnessed the work that was being done when I was here last year. It was promised to be finished by December of last year. I doubted that I took it. However, based on my observations as of right now, I am optimistic that it will be finished and put into use by the President by July or August," the minister said.

Olu Verheijen, the President's Special Advisor on Energy, expressed her excitement for the project's completion, citing assurances from the technical team that the appropriate technology had been identified to address the intricate problems associated with the River Niger Crossing.

Verheijen stated, "We are looking forward to having this project deliver prosperity to Nigerians in the form of electricity and other areas, as the minister and other speakers have said."

Ingo Justen, the Managing Director of Tunnel Service Group, one of the project's contractors, who was on site to oversee the work at the NNPC chief's request, expressed confidence that the project's timely completion will result from the current technology being used in its execution.

The NNPC Gas Infrastructure Company's managing director, Seyi Omotowa, revealed in a presentation that the River Niger Crossing operation—the last remaining component of the OB3 Gas Pipeline Project—will be completed on time at the current rate of progress with the new technology being used.

The OB3 gas pipeline is expected to cost $700 million to build. The East-West Pipeline is another name for the project, which got underway at some point in 2016.

It will carry more than two billion standard cubic feet of gas daily between Oben, Edo State, and the Obiafu-Obrikom gas facility at Omuku, Rivers State.