The 614km pipeline represents the phase one of the 1,300km-long Trans-Nigerian Gas Pipeline project

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The TNGP project forms part of broader 4,401km-long Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline (TSGP). (Credit: Pixabay/Ioannis Ioannidis)

The Nigerian Government is set to flag-off the construction of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s (NNPC) $2.8bn Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline project.

Planned to be completed within a 24-month timeline, the 614km pipeline project is the phase one of the 1,300km-long Trans-Nigerian Gas Pipeline (TNGP) project.

The TNGP project forms part broader 4,401km-long Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline (TSGP), which will export natural gas to customers in Europe.

Expected to boost domestic natural gas utilisation for Nigeria’s economic development, the AKK pipeline will run from Ajaokuta, in Kogi State and traverse Abuja (FCT), Niger, Kaduna and terminate at Kano.

The project will unlock 2.2 billion cubic feet of gas to domestic market

NNPC said that the project would unlock 2.2 billion cubic feet of gas to the domestic market as well as support the addition of 3,600MW of power to the national grid.

About 85% of the capital cost for the project will be funded by the financiers including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Bank of China, and Infrastructure Bank of China.

The remaining 15% for project cost was planned to be funded by the contractors which include Oilserve/Oando consortium, as well as Brentex/China Petroleum Pipeline (CPP) Bureau consortium.

The pipeline project will have capacity to transport 3,500 million metric standard cubic feet per day (Mmscfd) of dehydrated wet gas from several gas gathering projects located in southern Nigeria.

The AKK will complement other gas transmission systems in the country that include the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline I and II with 2.2 billion cubic feet per day capacity as well as the East-West connection via the OB3 pipeline with 2.4 billion cubic feet per day capacity.