THE Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, previously the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, has been ordered by the House of Representatives to provide details on the $12 billion trans-Saharan pipeline building project.
The House particularly requested that the NNPC submit information on the project’s implementation, funding, and status, as well as a review of the project’s National Gas Master Plan “to conform with the variables of today’s global economy.”
In addition, the House instructed its Committee on Gas Resources to verify that the resolutions were followed and to report back to the House within four weeks for further legislative action.
These resolutions followed the unanimous adoption of a motion introduced by Ahmed Munir, a member of the House, yesterday , titled “Urgent need to address the Trans Saharan Natural Gas Pipeline Project’s prolonged construction.”
According to Munir, on 14 January 2002, the NNPC and the Algerian National Oil and Gas Company (Sonatrach) signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a $12 billion, 4,128-kilometer natural gas pipeline project with a projected annual capacity of 30 billion cubic meters that would extend gas supply to Europe.
Also, according to the legislator, in June 2005, NNPC and Sonatrach signed a contract with Penspen Limited for a feasibility assessment of the project, which was completed in September 2006, and the pipeline was found to be technically and economically viable and reliable.
He added that the energy ministers of Nigeria, Niger, and Algeria signed an inter-governmental agreement on the pipeline on July 3, 2009, in Abuja.
Munir said, “The House is concerned that in 2013, the Federal Government approved a budget of $400m for commencement of the project originally scheduled to be operational by 2020 with no commensurate progress made to date.
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