The Federal Government has said the Obiafu/Obrikom/Oben (OB3) Gas Pipeline will be completed in March 2024.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, made this known at the official opening of the 7th edition of the Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES 2024) on Tuesday at the presidential banquet hall, Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the gas pipeline runs from the Obiafu-Obrikom gas plant near Omoku, Rivers State, to Oben in Edo State.
The pipeline is being constructed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. (NNPC Ltd.) and was initially intended to be completed by the end of 2017 but met technical challenges, including horizontal drilling under major rivers.
Ekpo, while announcing the completion deadline of the OB3 pipeline said the 42″ 127 km pipeline would supply two billion Cubic Feet (2BCF) of gas daily.
“Upon completion, this pipeline will provide the AKK pipeline with gas from the three fields of Obiafu, Obrikom, and Oben.
“I want to use this opportunity to appreciate the resilience of the NNPC Ltd. Group for their steadfastness and proactive approach to ensuring the timely completion of the OB3 pipeline project.
“The OB3 gas pipeline is a vital piece of gas infrastructure for the supply of feedstock to the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) pipeline, another milestone in our journey towards a gas-focused economy.
“OB3 is a construction phase natural gas pipeline, running from the Obiafu-Obrikom gas plant to the Oben node in Nigeria.
“I am pleased to report that significant progress has been made in constructing this critical infrastructure project, and we are on track to ensure its completion and inauguration as scheduled,” the minister said.