the construction of an interstate crude pipeline connecting Niger and Benin has commenced. The 1950 kilometers pipeline being undertaken by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) is expected to transmit the first oil shipment in 2022 from Agadem basin, Niger, to Port Seme, Benin, after its completion.
The pipe will have a 1275 Km section running through Niger and 675Km running through Benin, transmitting crude oil seamlessly between the two neighbors.
Based on the scope of work, the Chinese-owned pipeline company handles pipe engineering, procurement, and construction of the section running through Niger and Niger’s offshore terminal, the company said.
READ: Benin launches its side of Niger-Benin oil pipeline project
Worley, an Australian engineering house, worked on the basic design of an offshore pipeline section stretching from Port Seme, extending approximately 14.8 kilometers out of the sea. The offshore section will help load the oil into tankers through a well-designed single-buoy mooring system.
The offshore terminal will comprise two parallel 28-inch subsea pipelines, a pipeline-end manifold, and one single-buoy mooring system designed with six mooring anchors.
According to the pipeline’s design, the entire pipeline system, including nine pumping stations, will have approximately 90,000 barrels of crude oil per day, with the oil transported from the Agadem basin after completing the CNPC’s second-phase development in the basin.
Although the CNPC achieved the first Academy’s oil in Niger’s first phase in 2011, the second phase is anticipated to boost oil production capacity to over 40 million barrels annually.