Subsidiary firm to deliver 614km gas pipeline project, says NNPC

The Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru, has said that Nigeria will rely on Nigerian Gas Processing and Transportation Company (NGPTC), a subsidiary of the NNPC, to deliver a 614km Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline project.

The project, expected to be executed with about $3 billion, includes other key projects that will see the country expending over $38.5 billion on oil, petroleum products and natural gas pipelines between 2018 and 2022, according to data company, GlobalData.

Speaking on the sidelines of the 2017 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company, Baru, who also functioned as the chairman of the AGM, said the corporation was relying on the NGPTC’s competence to deliver the 614km Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline project.

He said apart from the AKK gas project, the company was also busy putting together new pipelines like the OB3 projected to come into operation later in the year alongside other significant gas pipeline projects across the length and breadth of the country designed as an integral part of the bigger trans-Nigerian gas pipeline system.

The NNPC boss commended the management and members of staff of the company for recording a profit after tax of N6.11 billion in its first year of operation under the new structure.

He said the NNPC management was looking forward to a bright future for NGTPC as it continued to show great promise and positive performance despite operating in an environment laden with incessant pipeline vandalism and condensate evacuation challenges.

Chief Operating Officer, Gas and Power and Chairman of the NGPTC Board, Saidu Mohammed, said the NGPTC was focused on consolidating on its strength and grow to bigger levels, noting that by 2019, the company would have leapfrogged into the big league with most of its ongoing gas infrastructure projects coming on stream.

Also, Managing Director of the company, Babatunde Bakare, said the 2017 AGM result showcases the corporation’s resolve to align with the prime objective of the Federal Government to harness the nation’s gas resources for the overall benefit of the Nigerian economy.

In another development, the Minna Depot of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in Pogo, near Minna in Niger State, was gutted by fire yesterday.

The fire, which started exactly at 11.00 a.m., created panic along the ever-busy Minna-Paiko road, leaving commuters stranded.

A resident of the area, Malam Ibrahim Paiko, who spoke with The Guardian in Minna, said the leakage started since Saturday but the scooping by the boys started around 2.00 a.m. yesterday.

According to him: “When the leakage started early this morning, it ran through the gutters which made black marketers scoop from it.

Besides, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the NSCDC, Malam Ibrahim Yahaya, who spoke with The Guardian, said: “For now, we have not been able to ascertain whether there is any casualty.”

Also, the Director-General, Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), Ahmed Ibrahim Inga, who confirmed the incident, said: “We thank God everything has returned to normalcy. Evacuation measures have been put in place and thank God the situation is now calm.