The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has disclosed that the construction of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline would commence in the second quarter of 2020.
The corporation’s Group Managing Director, Mallam Mele Kyari, said the pipeline when fully constructed would help boost economic activities in the country.
Kyari stated this at the 4th Sub-Saharan Africa International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference in Lagos, with the theme, ‘Oil and gas as an enabler for economic transformation in sub-Saharan Africa’.
According to Kyari, who was represented by the Chief Operating Officer, Gas and Power, Mr Yusuf Usman, the NNPC plans to expand its domestic gas footprint with the delivery of the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS) II and the OB3 gas pipeline to connect the East and the West.
He said the capacity of the ELPS would be doubled from 1.1 billion standard cubic feet of gas to 2.2 billion scf.
Speaking on the benefit of the recent passage of the Deep Offshore Act into law, Kyari said it had indeed impacted positively as it had set the industry on the path of irreversible growth.
He added that with the Final Investment Decision of the NLNG Train 7, Nigeria, Africa’s leading exporter of Liquefied Natural Gas and the fourth in the world after Qatar, Australia and Malaysia, was ready to capture more LNG market.
“Oil and gas resources have remained the major source of revenue that has kept the wheels of Nigeria moving for over five decades. Oil, as we all know, has served as a key enabler to the economic transformation of many nations like Norway, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and many other oil resources- dependent nations,” Kyari stated.
Meanwhile, the NNPC boss noted that the NNPC, as a national oil company, had been repositioned to support the vision of the President for economic diversification. He said the corporation targeted increasing oil production from 2.3 million barrels per day to three million bpd and at the same time, working with partners to significantly reduce cost per barrel in order to improve the flow of the needed revenue to support economic diversification.