Petroleum Minister, NNPC Ltd GCEO, NMDPRA Boss Tour OB3 Gas Pipeline Project, Assure of Timely Completion

The Minister of Petroleum Resources (Oil) Heineken Lokpobiri, and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas) Ekperikpe Ekpo undertook a facility tour of the construction site of Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben (OB3) Gas Pipeline Project.

Both ministers were accompanied on the inspection tour by the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited Mele Kyari and the Chief Executive of the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority Engr. Farouk Ahmed.

The delegation expressed confidence in the project’s progress, assuring that everything possible will be done to ensure that the December 2023 deadline for its completion remains sacrosanct.

The Obiafu/Obrikom/Oben (OB3) Project is one of the largest gas transmission pipelines in Nigeria and Africa at large (by pipe size).

The project has an associated Gas Treatment Plant (GTP) that has the capacity to produce 2 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day (2bscf/d).

The OB3 gas pipeline runs from the Obiafu-Obrikom gas plant near Omuku, Rivers State, to Oben, Edo State. As of August 2018, it was said that rain and flooding had delayed the construction of the pipeline and that the new expected date of completion was Q2 of 2019.

Since then, other factors like the Covid-19 pandemic and general slowdown due to changes in contracting agreements, have been blamed for the inability of the project to come onstream for close to eight years.

Recall that in June 2023, Mele Kyari assured the country that the project would soon be completed.

Kyari had said, “We know that the gas has reached this location, once we cross the river Niger the gas revolution in the domestic market of Nigeria would have been delivered. This is a critical project; we did have some technical issues, but I am confident that the team can deliver on this.”