Fenog lays 20" pipes across 3.49-kilometre river

An indigenous company in Delta State has laid 20" pipes across 3.49-kilometre river in the ongoing Amukpe/Escravos pipeline project. The company achieved the pioneering feat within six weeks.

  The company had laid 24" pipes across the 1.7-kilometre Escravos River in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State and 24" pipes across 2.82-kilometre/ObOb Kwale River in Delta State for Agip Nigeria Oil Company (NAOC).

  The Executive Director of the company, Mathew Tonlagha, described the feat as "an unprecedented feat in the history of underground pipelaying worldwide.

  "The one that is very close to what we have achieved as available record shows was the laying of 3.9 kilometres but that involved the laying of just 12" pipes and it was achieved in one year. But in our own case, we laid 20" pipes across 3.49kilometres river in just six weeks in the Amukpe/Escravos pipeline project.

  "You can see that this is no mean achievement that we have recorded worldwide. This is an improvement over what we did in the Chevron project when we laid 24"across 1.7-kilometre Escravos River in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State and 24" pipes across 2.82-kilometre/ObOb Kwale River in Delta State for Agip Nigeria Oil Company (NAOC).

  Tolangha commended the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Deziani Alison-Maduekwe, for creating a level playing ground for the indigenous oil and gas service companies to operate unfettered in the oil industry adding that Fenog would continue to serve as a pacesetter and leading light for other indigenous operators in the nation's oil industry.

  Fenog's General Manager, Chukwudi Uwakwe, attributed the success recorded by his company to the deployment of Continuous Horizontal Directional Drilling (CHDD) of which the company was the pioneer use in the world. 

  "All our jobs are being done by Nigerian nationals in line with the local content Act with the aid of our CHDD rigs, including our new versatile HDD 350 rig, which has the ability to push, pull, tunnel, drill, and truss boring abilities. We have used it to release a stocked pipe in one of our drilling sites of which nobody has been able to do in the whole world.

  "We are only pleading with the IOCs to encourage us by giving us first consideration in bidding and by giving us jobs to build our capacity and show our strength," Nwakwe added.

By Adeniyi Idowu Adunola