TheCable

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says 96 companies have expressed interest in the rehabilitation of its downstream facilities.

The public opening of the bid held virtually in Abuja on Thursday.

Ada Oyetunde, managing director of the Nigerian Pipelines and Storage Company (NPSC), listed the facilities to be rehabilitated to include critical pipelines for crude oil supply to the refineries and evacuation of refined products, depots, and terminals.

Oyetunde explained that the exercise is in conformity with the mandate of the federal government to prioritise the rehabilitation of critical downstream infrastructure across the country.

Oyetunde said that the objective is to get them ready to support the refineries when they become operational.

“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 build operate and transfer (BOT) to cover the four lots,” she explained.

“The four lots are 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 NPSC boss said the BOT arrangement will 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.

This, she added, would charge market reflective prices and tariffs to recover the investment.

According to Aisha Katagum, the group general manager for supply chain management, the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), and the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) is providing guidance for the project.

She assured the bidding firms of a fair, equitable and transparent selection process.