96 firms jostle to rehabilitate NNPC depots, pipelines
A total of 96 companies from various jurisdictions have indicated an interest in undertaking the rehabilitation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s downstream facilities, ranging from critical pipelines to depots and terminals, through the Build, Operate and Transfer financing model.
This was disclosed at a virtual public bid opening exercise which held at the NNPC Towers, Abuja for the pre-qualification of companies for the contract.
A press release by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Dr Kennie Obateru, said the public opening of the bids for the contract was in keeping with the NNPC management’s commitment to transparency and accountability in all its processes and transactions.
Speaking at the event, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Pipelines and Storage Company, Mrs Ada Oyetunde, said the exercise was in conformity with the mandate of the Federal Government to prioritise the rehabilitation of critical downstream infrastructure across the country.
She listed the facilities that would be rehabilitated by successful bidders to include critical pipelines for crude oil supply to the refineries and evacuation of refined products, depots, and terminals.
According to her, the objective is to get them ready to support the refineries when they become operational after their rehabilitation.
“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 4 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,” Oyetunde said.
The NPSC boss said that the BOT arrangement would provide a reliable pipeline network and automated storage facilities for effective crude feed, product storage and evacuation from the nation’s refineries post-revamp through an open access model and charge market reflective prices and tariffs to recover the investment.
Earlier, the Group General Manager, Supply Chain Management, Mrs Aisha Katagum, commended the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission and the Bureau of Public Procurement for providing guidance for the project.
She assured the bidding firms of a fair, equitable and transparent selection process.
