Pan Ocean’s Amukpe-Escravos Pipeline Project (AEPP) in Delta State, which is scheduled to come on stream by early 2018, will boost Nigeria’s crude oil exports by 160,000 barrels per day and also serve as an alternative to the much troubled Trans Forcados Pipeline (TFP) for oil companies operating in the western Niger Delta, the company has said.

From left: Senator Albert Akpan, Chairman Senate Committee on Gas; Igala E.A, Pan Ocean Gas Plant Manager; Senator Foster Ogola, Member Senate Committee on Gas; Senator Barnabas Gemade, Member Senate Committee on Gas; during the visit of the Senate Committee on Gas to Pan Ocean Ovade-Ogharefe Gas Plant in Delta State.

The agitation for resource control by the Niger Delta militants made the creeks of the region dangerous for expatriate oil workers, leading to the shutdown of operations in the oil companies. Government has been able to check some of the activities of these militants in the region through peace talks but despite the peace talks there is need for a safer way of evacuating the nation’s crude.

Driven by the urgent need to encourage alternate field production potential of exploration and production companies as well as infrastructure development for Nigeria, Pan Ocean, Operator of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Pan Ocean Joint Venture awarded a contract for the construction of Amukpe-Escravos Pipelines Project (AEPP) to Fenog Nigeria limited, an indigenous company in 2011. The contract which involves installation of 20 inches pipeline across the 67 kilometers route will have capacity to handle 160,000 barrels of oil per day (BOPD) with remote manifolds to accommodate third parties crude oil evacuation to the Escravos Tank farm.

The Amukpe-Escravos Pipeline Project (AEPP), a joint venture (JV) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Pan Ocean Oil Corporation, is scheduled to come on stream by early 2018. It is hoped that the pipeline project will offer an option to the “much troubled” Trans Forcados Pipeline (TFP) for crude export from mid-western oil producers in the Niger Delta. “The primary objective of AEPP is to ensure that there is no disruption to crude oil export like the scenario we experienced on the TFP over the past 16 months where there was a total collapse of crude export. Nigeria’s experience and history has shown that it is not wise to be highly dependent on a particular source that is why we have AEPP as alternative to TFP which has been our major means of exporting crude oil as a joint venture (JV) partner”, said John Okusolubo, Senior Pipeline Engineer and Project Lead, AEPP.

According him, the construction of the AEPP entails the use of continuous Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) method to install the entire pipeline length for the purpose of security from the act of vandalism which is prevalent in the domain. The project’s objective is to provide Pan Ocean JV and other Niger Delta mid-western producers like Seplat, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), Conoil, Sahara and other oil producers in the area an alternative export pipeline route to the existing TFP that has been a casualty of many militant attacks.

Nigeria’s crude export capability dwindled in the past 2 years because of the massive vandalism. The TFP has a daily capacity of 240,000 bpd, with average daily flows ranging between 200,000 bpd and 240,000 bpd. Amid it’s shutdown, Nigeria’s crude oil production fell from 2 million bpd to as low as 1.27 million bpd, losing its position as Africa’s number one crude oil producer and falling behind Angola several times over the past year.

The AEPP is going to be a major export line, it also gives opportunity for other injectors who may also be stalled by the erratic vandalism of the TFP to join in transport crude to Escravos together. This great achievement means Pan Ocean has an alternative line to export its crude and has also created an opportunity for others who have been using TFP to also export their crude without disruption. This project will help the country to continue to flow their crude and keep the economy alive.