In this interview, the Group Chief Executive Officer of Oilserv Group, one of Nigeria’s engineering powerhouses, Emeka Okwuosa, talks about the complexity of the recent River Niger crossing of the 614km Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline project.

Okwuosa offers insights into the technical challenges, progress made, and the significance of this critical phase in Nigeria’s gas transportation network. Emmanuel Addeh brings the excerpts.

Could you give us an overview of the AKK pipeline project?

A lot of people who hear about AKK may not actually fully understand what it entails. AKK is  Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano pipeline. It’s a 614-kilometre pipeline. And out of that, Oilserv is building 303 kilometres, approximately half of that, starting from Ajaokuta, all the way to the border between Kaduna state and Niger state. And when we talk about the kilometres or the length of the pipeline, it’s not just about the pipeline. In the pipeline, there are multiple facilities that go with it.

And this is not a normal gas pipeline, this is what you call a transmission line, which means it’s a core pipeline from which you now distribute and build other pipelines to get to different node centres. This is the transmission line, which is the core. And it’s got stations along the line. It’s got terminal gas stations, etc. So, it’s not just a pipeline, it’s a pipeline system with all manners of facilities associated with it. It’s a key part of the Nigerian gas master plan.

And you may be aware that the gas master plan, part of it, is already built. The Escravos to Lagos pipeline is in existence as we speak. The OB3 pipeline, which is a larger diameter, it’s a first stage pipeline. Most of it is in place. Oilserv built half of that. And our own section was completed in the past four years. It’s in use as we speak, and gas is flowing into that pipeline.

So, AKK is a major segment, after which there will be another one that will come again from the south and join Ajaokuta to make up the entire transmission system that constitutes the Nigerian gas master plan. But let me concentrate on AKK.

Why I mention all this is for you to realise that in all these pipelines I’ve mentioned, virtually most of them, Oilserv has been involved in building them at various times. AKK, the 303 kilometres section we’re building, the target is to have mechanical completion by the end of 2025. This pipeline is being built in very difficult terrain.

If any of you have the opportunity to visit this site, you will see that in our own segment, we have to blast rocks to be able to lay the pipeline. Most of the areas around Kogi are all rocks. And you can imagine that if you want to, all these pipelines we built, at the end of welding, we need to lower them more than two metres below the ground.

So the point I’m making is that difficulties have been encountered, and Oilserv has been working closely with NNPC to overcome those, and we are proud to say that with the crossing of River Niger, which is a major obstacle or a challenge, it’s a major milestone. Without crossing the River Niger, you will not have a complete pipeline.

What is the significance of this River Niger crossing? 

I did mention a bit about the crossing, but I will elaborate to make sure that it is clear to all. The AKK pipeline we have built, transverses deep-treaded terrains from the deep jungle. There are multiple river crossings, and it’s a long drive away. You’ve got hills and what appear to be cliffs. We have to cross roads. 

It may appear simple, but a lot of the time, to cross this without crossing the road physically, you have to trail across. But the significance of River Niger is that River Niger is a huge river, from one bank to the other, in this particular case, where we are, is one or two kilometres. And we had to do this pipeline in a way that we respect the environment. We did not want to disturb the water itself.

Don’t forget, this is a pipeline for so many people, either in terms of fish that is gotten from this river, or in terms of navigation. You don’t want to lay the pipeline by cutting the bottom of the river. So what we did in this case, was to do what we call Horizontal Directional Drilling.

We drilled under the water bed from one bank to the other without disturbing the water. It is something similar to the Channel Tunnel that was built from England to France in order to have train paths. It’s just that the Tunnel is a larger diameter hole that enables transport to go.

It’s a special technology, because in doing this, you have to go through different formations, what we call consolidated formations. You have rock, you have clay, you have gravel, you have all sorts that you have to adapt to. A lot of times it’s difficult to achieve this without breaking down the formation. So crossing a river of that magnitude is a difficult task. We already crossed another river called Pai River, but that is about a kilometre, slightly less than a kilometre.

It’s still the same method, but being that it’s a shorter distance, it’s easier to do. Once you get to two kilometres above, it is difficult because you have a lot of load. You have to have a lot of pull to be able to pull the pipe across.

And you have to be extremely careful to overcome all the constraints. So crossing River Niger, such crossings are very scarce all over the world. Whenever you achieve this, it’s actually a very significant achievement anywhere in the world, not to talk of Nigeria.

When people hear about the pipeline, they think you just take a piece of pipe and just go there and put it there. It is a difficult process. It is to deal with security issues that we all know have gotten worse in the past five years.

In the course of executing this project, we have had attacks that I won’t go to elaborate on, and we have even lost lives. When such a thing happens, you have to stop the project, recalibrate it, rework your security protocols, and get the support of the government, which we are glad we are getting. We have a strong support of the military, we have a strong support of police, and we have a strong support of the state security service.

And the NNPC has worked closely with us to support us. If not for that, this project would have taken longer. But this is only one of the challenges. I already talked about the terrain. Sometime of the year, you cannot access some areas because of rain, because of flooding. We have to deal with that.

We also know the difficulties of our logistics. To move these pipes from the ports to the location where we need them, the maximum you can carry in one truck is only three pipes. A lot of times you can only carry two pipes. These are 40 inch diameter pipes. They are huge. So what it means is that if you look at 303 kilometres, the length of each pipe is 12 meters.

You now have to lift thousands of pipes you have to carry from the port and overcome all the road problems. During the rainy season, some parts of the road are not accessible. So there are multiple challenges we have to deal with. And these are the things that create the issues. 

As an indigenous company, what key lessons have you learnt  from this?

Our experience has been rich. Rich from the point of view of being forward looking. Every challenge that we have encountered as a company, our major purpose and direction has been to take advantage of solving those challenges in developing our capacity even further. I dare  say that we are not just an indigenous company, we are run by indigenous management, with the entire staff of Oilserv, we are all Nigerians.

Oilserv commenced activities in 1995 and we have continuously built capacity to the extent that at the height of this project now, we have more than 2,000 people that work for Oilserv in one capacity or the other. And we have thousands more that are our vendors, our subcontractors, and so on and so forth. So it’s not just about Oilserv.

By the existence of Oilserv, Nigeria is being developed. By the existence of Oilserv, many families are able to have their livelihood provided for, directly or indirectly. We are not even talking about the impact of the gas pipeline built that will provide gas, provide energy, and improve the business outlook and economy of Nigeria.

So for us, the challenges have to do more with building capacity as an indigenous company, as a Nigerian company, knowing full well that virtually all the equipment we use are not made in Nigeria. We have to buy them overseas. We have to maintain them. All the spares are purchased overseas. And we know we have to deal with foreign exchange issues. The other one revolves around capacity building from the point of view of human resources.

We have to train our people from scratch, because if we don’t, nobody can do it for us. And we have set up various training programmes that have enabled us over the past decades to develop capacity. And knowing full well also, labour laws, sometimes we lose people to competition, to other parts of the industry or people traveling out of the country. So it’s a continuous challenge to keep training and keep building capacity. But in all this, I can tell you, we have actually achieved a lot of success.

The issue of insecurity is a huge conversation in Nigeria. Given the prevailing security challenges across the country, how has Oilserv been able to sustain progress on the AKK gas pipeline? 

 We all know the challenges we have. We also know that the government is doing its best to try to contain the situation. It’s not just only about Nigeria. You can see what is going on across West Africa, across the Sahel. It’s a difficult time for everybody. But when you build pipelines, you have to go through every inch of the terrain to be able to lay these pipes. You have to have hundreds of people, if not thousands, along the right of way Inside the forest.

You can see that a lot of times, Nigerians don’t know what is going on because you don’t see the people walking. They’re inside the forest. We don’t build pipelines. Most of the time, we don’t build pipelines along the roads. Sometimes, we cross the road by chance.

 We try to avoid built-up areas because you have to safeguard the pipeline and safeguard people from the impact of the pipeline. So what it means is that we’re exposed to these security issues. And for us to execute a project, we have to retain the services of government security agencies. And we’re talking in multitudes.

We have the military giving us very strong support. We have soldiers along the right of way in every location. We have police. We have civil defence in some areas. We even have the local hunters who are very invaluable because they know the terrain. So you can imagine sometimes, we have 100 security personnel in a particular section. So this creates difficulty in logistics. And then, of course, you can imagine the cost impact.

But I dare to tell you that we have a very good support of the Nigerian government on this. The federal government of Nigeria through the security agencies are supporting us. NNPC has done a lot to offer support to make sure that we are able to continue working in the course of this process and make sure that insecurity does not stop us. 

Community relations is another very big issue. Given what’s happening in the Niger Delta and how that has impacted the oil industry, how have you been able to engage communities in the course of the project?

Oilserv is a company that has come a long way. We have worked extensively in the Niger Delta. For the IOCs like Shell, like Total. We also worked for Chevron, NLNG and others, So, we have a huge capacity on how to manage the communities. What is important is recognising that the communities have their rights. And we must respect those rights.

Over time, we developed procedures and processes on how to engage. Before you get into any location for work, you have to engage with the community. Know their peculiarities. Know what they want. Make sure you know you have the employment opportunities to offer them. And then, most times, we sign MoUs with them that specify how we relate.

Most importantly is that we live up to our agreement with the communities. Because if you don’t, you cannot come back. You will have difficulties. I can say that we’ve maintained a very, very good community relations record. We don’t have any issues with the communities because we follow the rules. We follow the engagement protocols. And we carry them along.

 And we make sure that they benefit as they should from the opportunities that exist. We make sure that we respect their environment. We make sure that we respect their tradition. And we make sure that they’re carried along across the board. So, that is why it works very well.

We have multiple people employed in it who understand the communities. They engage them. We work closely with our clients, in this case, NNPC, on this project to make sure that we follow not only our own guidelines, but the guidelines of our clients. And every project has got community procedures and community plans. So, we follow those. Before the project starts, all these things are developed, approved by our clients.

Funding is usually a key issue in projects like this. The NNPC was supposed to get China Exim bank to sponsor this project. But we now hear of Afreximbank being in the picture. Can you give us some details?

You are aware, and you mentioned it, that when this project was conceptualised, it was on the basis that external finance would be raised. And the NNPC narrowed it to China. And we had a very detailed discussion with China over a couple of years.

Unfortunately, it did not materialise to funding. And the NNPC did their best to fund this project internally. You can imagine the difficulty of that, a project of this magnitude. But because of the significance and importance of this project to Nigeria, our country, NNPC had to dig deep and use their internal resources. I will tell you that they have been successful. Of course, there have been challenges.

These challenges mean that sometimes we have to, as a company, cover this cost until they are able to make up. But the way the project is run, actually, it is not that NNPC gives us money to go and execute. No, we go and we have what we call milestones. The project is broken into milestones. Each milestone is a scope. Each milestone has a value.

So, we go, as Oilserv, raise the money with our banks, and then go ahead and build this section, achieve the milestone, before we can push our invoice for NNPC to pay off. So, really, we fund it, NNPC pays us as we achieve milestones. That’s the process. So, that again gives NNPC some time to be in a position to meet up. But I can tell you clearly that based on the way we have worked with NNPC, we have managed to overcome the challenges of financing.

And a lot of credit will go to NNPC for that. And, of course, to our staff for doing what we need to do to make this work. So, that is what it is.

Do you have an arrangement to continue to maintain these pipelines after handover? 

It’s quite an important issue. And thank you for raising it. Now, I will tell you very clearly that we build the pipeline in line with very clear procedures. And these procedures and processes are actually internationally recognised.

And what do I mean by that?  In engineering, you have standards. These standards are international. It’s not about Nigeria. And every part of the pipeline system is built in line with that. It has a code that we follow.

Now, after commissioning, we go into the next stage, which is operations and maintenance. You run the pipeline as it is designed to be run. In this particular case, our scope is EPC, engineering, procurement, and construction.

As soon as we commission the pipeline, we hand it over to our client, the NNPC. NNPC has to arrange how to carry out the operations and maintenance. A lot of times, they will contract an operations and maintenance company.

Yes, oil and gas people can also execute that, but it’s a different scope. So, for the life of the pipeline, this kind of pipeline can last you 50 to 60 years, if maintained properly. So, for the life of this pipeline, NNPC that owns this pipeline has a duty to operate and maintain this pipeline in line with the code of the industry. And there are checks and balances to make sure it’s done. 

What about partnership with other banks?

Thank you. We have developed partnerships with different financial institutions, including banks in Nigeria, some international banks, and financial organisations. But Afreximbank is quite a significant one.

Afreximbank, as you know, is more of a multilateral finance institution covering activities in Africa. They support and finance and help to develop various capacities, and then various projects and facilities, not only in Nigeria, but across Africa. 

And for you to qualify, it is very strict. You have to show capacity, you have to also be forward-looking, and they have to be sure, from your management system, your capacity as a company, and your ability to be part of the team for developing Africa. So, it’s not just about Nigeria.

So, we went through all those qualifications before we got through. And I dare say that in Nigeria, Oilserv is the only EPC company that is qualified for that. Which means now, we work closely with the bank, even for developing opportunities across Africa.