Nigerian Two-Way Gas Pipe Nears Completion

The East-West Gas Pipeline Project, popularly called OB3, will now be completed in September 2019, having missed the end-2018 deadline, according to the CEO of Nigerian oil services firm Oilserv, Emeka Okwuosa.

The pipeline has a capacity of 2bn ft³/day and is one of seven major infrastructure projects the country is prioritising.

The newly re-elected president Muhammadu Buhari will commission the OB3 project. He was sworn into office for a second term May 29.

The OB3 pipeline project is divided into two parts. Lot A is 48 inch × 67.5 km. It was built by Nestoil and was completed in March. The pipeline begins in Obiafu/Obrikom in Rivers State through to Bayelsa State. Lot B is 67 km long and is being built by Oilserv. It starts from the intermediate pigging station at Umukwata in Delta State and terminates at Oben Node in Edo State.

NGW had initially reported that the project was due by end 2018, but it has since undergone a redesign. During the Offshore Technology Conference held in Houston, Texas, Okwuosa told attendees that the pipeline, when completed, would take the gas from the gas processing plant (GPP) at the pigging station in Umukwuata.

At Oben Node it connects to the Escravos Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS). The line can take gas from GPP into the ELPS or the other way.

The engineering, procurement, pre-construction activities and mainline construction works are complete and the GPP is mostly done, he said.

The OB3 pipeline is one of Nigeria's seven critical gas projects, initiated by state producer, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) during the last Buhari administration, to bridge huge supply gap; support 15 GW of power generation; and position Nigeria as a regional hub for gas-based industries by 2020. Other major gas projects include the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano pipeline, Assa North-Ohaji South project, and other gas field developments.