Yemisi Izuora
The Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR , has given the approval for the use of intrusion detection pipeline technology in the oil and gas sector.
The Safepipe and Retrofit technology is designed to help identify and manage external corrosion, leaks and other interferences, following technical evaluation and fitness checking of the technology by approval officers.
According to Mohammed Abdulkarim, Director of ScanTECH IsoPlus Nigeria, the innovation behind the new pipeline technology will play a significant role in improving domestic industry and enabling Nigeria to better compete on a global scale.
“The need to fortify the Nigerian oil and gas sector is both compelling and imperative,” said Abdulkarim. “Nigerian independents and indigenous companies need to take center stage in improving pipeline systems, thereby expanding domestic refining and oil and gas production flawlessly to improve the country’s GDP.”
According to Abdulkarim, the approval of the technology has the potential to stimulate investment in local industry in order to produce the pipes in-country, with a view to creating 400-450 local manufacturing jobs and spurring industrialization.
It is estimated that from September 2019 to September 2020, Nigeria spent over N75.23 billion ($200 million) on repairs and maintenance of leaking pipelines transporting crude oil from wells to flow stations.