The Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Limited, Engr. Bayo Ojulari, has disclosed that the $2.8 billion Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline project has reached 72 percent completion as of the end of the first quarter of 2025.
Ojulari made this disclosure at the 2025 Oloibiri Lecture Series and Energy Forum (OLEF) organized by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Nigeria. He emphasized that with substantial investments in energy infrastructure, NNPC is actively shaping Nigeria’s energy future.
This year’s conference has the theme “Driving Energy Sustainability Through Technology, Policy, and Supply Chain Excellence.”
Represented by the Executive Vice President, Upstream, Engr. Udobong Ntia, Ojulari noted that the conference theme speaks directly to the present and emerging realities of the Nigerian petroleum industry. He urged industry stakeholders to collectively rethink the current paradigms shaping the energy sector.
He observed that “in Africa, over 600 million people remain without access to electricity, a statistic that reflects both a development deficit and a glaring opportunity for energy inclusion. Here in Nigeria, oil and gas continue to represent over 85% of export earnings and contribute significantly to government revenue. But beyond revenue, our hydrocarbon wealth must now become a bridge to a broader, more sustainable energy future”.
He added that “technology is no longer an enabler. It has now become a fulcrum. At NNPC Limited, we have embraced digital transformation not as a buzzword but as an operational imperative”.
He disclosed that “Nigeria’s passage of the Petroleum Industry Act, the PIA, in 2021 remains a historic milestone, one that has repositioned NNPC Limited as a fully commercial entity empowered to compete and deliver value like never before. In alignment with Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan, which seeks to achieve net-zero emissions by 2060, NMPC Limited has initiated several gas-led transition programs, including the expansion of our Autogas program, targeting over one million vehicles, through 2026. The completion of critical backbone infrastructure such as the AKK pipeline, which is over 72% complete as we speak, first quarter 2025”.
Earlier, the Chairman, SPE Nigeria, Engr. Amina Danmadami noted that while the global conversation may lean heavily toward renewables, we know that oil and gas will remain central to Nigeria’s economic stability, energy security, and industrial growth for decades to come.
She stated that “since 1991, OLEF has stood as a symbol of dialogue, innovation, and policy engagement in Nigeria’s oil and gas landscape. It commemorates the first commercial discovery of oil in Nigeria in Oloibiri, Bayelsa State—an event that forever changed the trajectory of our nation’s economic history. OLEF continues to serve as a convergence point for stakeholders across government, industry, and academia to reflect, project, and act”.
Also speaking at the event, the Executive Secretary, Petroleum Technology Development Fund, PTDF, Ahmed Aminu commended SPE Nigeria for sustaining the OLEF.
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