The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) revealed that it is on the verge of closing funding arrangements for the $2.8bn Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline project (AKK Gas Project).
Image: NNPC close to wrapping up funding arrangements on AKK Gas Project in Nigeria. Photo: courtesy of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
Expected to provide connectivity between the East, West and North, the 614km AKK Gas Project in Nigeria will facilitate gas supply and utilization of major commercial centers in the country’s Northern corridor.
The Nigerian gas pipeline project will start from Ajaokuta and pass through Abuja and Kaduna, before ending at a terminal gas station located in Kano.
It will have a capacity to deliver 3,500 million metric standard cubic feet per day (Mmscfd) of dehydrated wet gas sourced from various gas gathering projects located across southern Nigeria.
At the 30th edition of Gas Technology Conference in Barcelona, Spain, NNPC group managing director Maikanti Baru disclosed that a great amount of progress has been achieved towards getting funding for the AKK pipeline project during a recent visit of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari to China.
Earlier this month, NNPC reported that China National Petroleum (CNPC) had agreed to help secure funds for the AKK Gas Project, which constitutes phase one of the Trans-Nigeria Gas Pipeline (TNGP) project. The TNGP is thought to be the single biggest gas pipeline of oil and gas operations in Nigeria.
According to Baru, the AKK Gas Project is on the verge of breaking ground and that Nigeria is focused on growing its critical gas infrastructure like pipelines which would lead to a gas grid covering the entire country.
Baru said: “Once you have the whole nation covered with a gas grid, industries will naturally spring up along the way and litter the entire country. That is our target in the long run.”
While nearly 85% of the capital cost for the AKK Gas Project will be covered by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Bank of China, and Infrastructure Bank of China among other financiers, Chinese Export Credit Agency (ECA) Sinosure will provide insurance cover.
The remaining 15% for project cost is expected to be covered by the contractors such as Oilserve/Oando consortium, and also the Brentex/China Petroleum Pipeline (CPP) Bureau consortium.