78 firms scramble for Nigeria’s pipeline revamp as NNPC opens bid round

Seventy-eight companies are now in contention for the upgrade of Nigeria’s downstream pipelines and related depot and terminal assets after completing their expression of interest through virtual bids, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has revealed.

The rehabilitation would come by way of finance, build, operate and transfer execution mode, the corporation disclosed in a note issued on its website on Sunday by the corporation’s spokesperson, Kennie Obateru.

Being an Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative partner firm, NNPC is approaching the bidding process with accountability and openness, said Mele Kyari, the state-owned firm’s group managing director.

“This is not possible to achieve if we do not have the leadership disposition that is in support of transparency. I can confirm to all of you that it is the clear directive of Mr. President that this company must be accountable and must be transparent to its shareholders.

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“We must take all necessary steps to make sure that our transactions are known to the citizens of this country, that we do things for the common good of all of us and that in doing our business, we must ensure integrity.”

The oil and gas pipeline network of Africa’s top oil producer are in a parlous state because the infrastructures have seen decay and are ageing fast, some of them already 4 decades old, with several rupturing points that could trigger explosion.

They run under a management could not put a passable security check architecture in place, making them frequent targets of vandals and oil thieves.

The assets, operated by the Nigerian Pipelines and Storage Company, span 5,120 length of pipelines, NNPC Chief Operating Officer, Downstream Lawrencia Ndupu said, with two coastal depots in Lagos and Calabar.

Authorities are now looking to the final partners of the bid round that will emerge in the first quarter of next year through the public-private arrangement to offer a kiss of life.

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