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OB3 gas pipeline for completion in August – NNPCL

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) has disclosed that the Obiafu/Obrikom/Oben (OB3) gas pipeline will be completed by August.

The chief corporate communications officer (CCCO) of NNPC Ltd, Olufemi Soneye, in a statement he released on Saturday and made available to Tribune Online, said the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Company, Mele Kyari, disclosed this during an inspection tour of the OB3 pipeline River Niger crossing operation at Aboh, Delta State, on Saturday.

Kyari described the project as a monumental value to Nigeria, adding that it will see about 2.2 billion standard cubic feet of gas ‘coming into our network”.

“This is a major project of monumental value to our country. What this means is that this is the only way we can deliver the gas revolution. I am very happy and convinced that, latest by the middle of August, we will complete this project. I have been assured of that by the project team.

“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 half years. We are happy that this will give us the platform to unleash the gas revolution in our country,” the statement quoted Kyari as saying.

Tribune Online reports that the $700 million OB3 gas pipeline project being built by NNPC Ltd has been under construction for years and has missed several deadlines.

According to reports, the project which was intended to be completed in 2017 and as of December 2016, was said to be 80 per cent completed but technical challenges such as horizontal drilling under major rivers and other complicated work delayed it. Also, other factors like the COVID-19 pandemic and general slowdown over changes in contractual agreements contributed to the failure of the project to see the light of the day.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas) Ekperikpe Ekpo, who expressed his satisfaction with the pace of work at the OB3 River Niger crossing operation, described it as “Renewed Hope at work.”

“I was here last year and I saw the work that was going on. There was a promise that it would be completed by December last year. I took it with a doubt. But today, from what I can see, I am confident that by July or August, it will be completed and it will be commissioned by the President,” the minister said.

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