96 Firms ‘Fight’ to Repair NNPC’s Pipelines, Depots

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

No fewer than 96 companies have submitted proposals to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for the rehabilitation of some of its facilities.

The downstream infrastructure of the state-owned oil agency would be repaired through the Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) financing model. They include critical pipelines, depots and terminals

In a statement on Thursday, the NNPC explained that it decided to work on the pipelines to get them ready to support the refineries when they become operational after their rehabilitation.

The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Dr Kennie Obateru, which signed the statement, noted that the rehabilitated pipelines would be used for crude oil supply to the refineries and evacuation of refined products.

But to make the bidding process transparent, the agency held a virtual public bid opening exercise at the NNPC Towers, Abuja for the pre-qualification of companies for the contract.

It was disclosed that several reputable companies from across the country participated because of the confidence they have in the current management of the NNPC under the leadership of Mr Mele Kyari, who has promoted the Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence (TAPE) policy.

On hand to observe proceedings at the public bid opening exercise were representatives of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and Civil Liberties Organisations (CLOs).

“An open tender for pre-qualification of interested companies was published in August 2020 in the national dailies, for the rehabilitation of NNPC downstream critical pipelines and associated depots and terminal infrastructure through Finance BOT to cover the four lots namely: Lot 1: Port Harcourt Refinery related infrastructure, Lot 2: Warri Refinery related infrastructure, Lot 3: Kaduna Refinery related infrastructure and Lot 4: System 2B related infrastructure,” the Managing Director of the Nigerian Pipelines and Storage Company (NPSC), Mrs Ada Oyetunde.

According to her, the exercise was in conformity with the mandate of the federal government to prioritise the rehabilitation of critical downstream infrastructure across the country.