Baru meets AKK Pipeline Project Financiers in Dubai

Wed, Aug 15, 2018 | By publisher


Oil & Gas

MAIKANTI Baru, group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC,  in Dubai, United Arab Emirate directed the Chinese Consortium and the NNPC Project Team on the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano, AKK, pipeline project to ensure timely finalization of the term sheet for the project’s contractor financing agreement.

The Chinese consortium is made up of Bank of China and Sinosure.

Baru, who had to cut short his holy pilgrimage trip to Saudi Arabia for a stop-over in Dubai to meet with the Chinese consortium reiterated the need for both parties to ensure speedy conclusion on the details of the agreement towards its full execution during President’s state visit to China next month.

President Muhammadu Buhari is scheduled to attend the Forum of China-Africa Cooperation, FOCAC, Summit holding from September 1 to 4, in the Chinese capital, Beijing. The AKK Project will be top on President’s agenda.

The NNPC had earlier clarified that the execution of the AKK gas pipeline project is progressing under the original concept of 100 percent contractor financing model contrary to some media report of a possible resort to ‘’proceed of gas tariffs’’ as new means of funding because of purported collapse of negotiation with Chinese lenders.

The corporation noted that the successful conclusion of the contractor financing terms would pave way for the historic ground-breaking ceremony which would take place after the conclusion of the front-end activities.

Already, the corporation had concluded the vital Front End Engineering Design, FEED, and the Environmental Impact Assessment, EIA, report while work on the detailed engineering design is nearing conclusion.

Upon completion within a projected 24-month window, the NNPC stated that the AKK gas pipeline would enable connectivity between the East, West and North, which is currently non-existent.

It would also enable gas supply and utilization to key commercial centres in the Northern corridor of Nigeria with the attendant positive spin-off on power generation and industrial growth.

Aug. 15, 2018 @ 18:59 GMT |

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