*Investors to upgrade, operate, and secure downstream assets
Chineme Okafor in Abuja
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has concluded plans to hand over to private investors with good financial standing its 5,000 kilometres of pipeline network, 21 petrol storage depots and nine Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) depots to upgrade, operate and secure under a Joint Venture (JV) model, THISDAY has learnt.
The paper gathered Tuesday in Abuja that the corporation has as part of this plan invited interested companies to bid for the assets which it has also segmented into seven for ease of operation.
Bidders, it was learnt, have also begun to inspect the assets with a view to tabling their bids before the corporation.
Some of the assets up for the concession are the Single Mooring Point (SMP); New Atlas Cove Jetty (NACJ); Atlas Cove and pump station; Satellite (Ejigbo) depot; Apapa jetty; and Atlas-Mosimi pipeline which are in segment 1.
The Apapa LPG plant in segment 1A, the Import Berth Platform (IBP); IBP-Escravos pipeline; Escravos terminal, Escravos-Warri crude oil line; Warri-Kaduna crude oil line and pump station; Warri pump station; Warri-Suleja pipeline; Warri-Benin pipeline; Benin depot; Benin-Ore pipeline and Ore depot in segment 2, Mosimi depot and pump station; Mosimi-Ibadan; Mosimi-Ore and Ibadan-Ilorin pipelines; Ibadan and Ilorin depot and pump station in 3 and Ibadan LPG plant in 3A are also included.
Equally, the Ilorin LPG plant in 3A, Kaduna and Zaria pump stations; Kaduna-Kano; Zaria-Gusau; Kaduna-Jos; Kaduna Suleja and Suleja-Minna pipelines as well as, Kano; Gusau; Suleja and Minna depots in segment 4, as well as Enugu, Markurdi, Yola, Port Harcourt and Aba depots amongst others are included.
THISDAY saw a notice of this and the scope of work which the investors would be expected to cover.
They include security of the country’s pipelines against third party breaches, periodic upgrade and maintenance of pipelines as well as depots and storage facilities and safe transportation and reception of contracted throughput volumes of products of users.
Also, the proposed JV investors would be asked by the NNPC to deploy state-of-the-art pipeline protection technology to detect and stop leaks, as well as communicate real-time breaches on them for rapid response.
A source in the corporation who is familiar with the development also told THISDAY anonymously that emphasis was been played on companies with capacities to deploy technology in their running of the downstream assets.
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