The Federal Government has given approval for the construction of a Liquefied Petroleum Gas extraction plant in Rivers State .
The Department of Petroleum Resources gave the approval to construct the LPG plant to Green Energy International Limited after it had earlier issued the firm a licence to establish the facility, according to a statement issued in Abuja on Friday.
This is coming as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation stated that it had executed contracts for the engineering, procurement, construction , commissioning and financing for Lots 1 and 3 of the 40-inch x 614 km Ajaokuta - Kaduna - Kano gas pipeline and stations with a consortium of indigenous and Chinese companies under a 100 per cent contractor financing model .
         The Director , Legal and Corporate Matters , Green Energy International, Olusegun Ilori , said the government gave the nod for the commencement of construction of the 12 million standard cubic feet per day capacity LPG extraction plant at Ikuru town in Rivers State .
Green Energy is the operator of the Otakikpo marginal field in Oil Mining Lease 11.
“ The ATC (approval to construct) of the 12mmscfd capacity plant was issued to the company sequel to the successful submission of the detailed engineering design of the plant , whose LTE (licence to establish) was issued in 2017, ” the firm stated.
It noted that the engineering design was done under the supervision of the indigenous operator by the contractor, PCC - LAMBDA Consortium , which was formed by Nigerian companies and a Chinese firm , Peiyang Chemical Equipment Company Limited.
Green Energy , which began production in February 2017, stated that it was determined to ensure full utilisation of the gas produced from the field for LPG and power generation , among other projects .
Ilori explained that the gas utilisation plant involved the use of the lean gas to power the 12 megawatts gas generator at the Otakikpo field, out of which 5 MW would be dedicated to the host communities .
      According to him , the LPG and propane will be bottled and sold , adding that part of the LPG would be for domestic use within Otakikpo communities in order to support small-scale industries in the region .
On the gas pipeline project , the NNPC stated that under the terms of the contract , Lot 1 with total length of 40- inch x 200 km , stretching from Ajaokuta to the Abuja terminal gas station, was awarded to the OilServe /Oando Consortium .
It stated that Lot 3 , which runs from the Kaduna terminal gas station to the Kano station, with total length of 40- inch x 221 km , was awarded to the Brentex /China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau Consortium .
      The Group Managing Director , NNPC , Maikanti Baru , said the AKK Gas pipeline was a section of the Trans- Nigerian Gas Pipeline under the gas infrastructure blueprint designed to enable the industrialisation of the eastern and northern parts of the country .
He noted that the project would also enable connectivity between the East , West and North, which is currently non - existent .
The process for the award of the AKK project commenced in July 2013 with the advertisement for tenders by the corporation .
After a technical and commercial evaluation process, the Federal Executive Council at its 46th meeting on December 13, 2017, approved the contract valued at over $ 2 .8 bn .