Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation said that Nigeria's full demand in tonnage of steel pipe used in both petroleum and water services industries had risen to between 1 million to 1.2 million tonnes annually.
According to Mr Levy Yuval MD of SCC Nigeria Limited, owners and operators of SCC Pipe Mill in Ushafa, this conservative figure of the country's annual demand for steel pipe by related industries, was recently made known by the NNPC.
Mr Yuval said that this huge demand was yet to be met by investors in steel pipe fabrication, explaining that SCC Pipe Mill was only able to produce 100,000 tonnes of Helical submerged Arc Welded pipes annually at its factory in Abuja for local consumption.
He added that "As far as I know the full demand in tonnage of pipe in Nigeria is between one million to 1.2 million tonnes annually but we can produce 100,000 tons annually in this factory. So, you can see how much room for more investors to come in. We have plans to open more factories in the country but there was formerly no assistance from the industry. As you know investment is very risky and very difficult but we picked up the challenge and we did it and you see the result today."
Minister of petroleum resources Ms Diezani Alison Madueke said that Yulong Steel, a Chinese steel company recently made firm commitment to establish a 250,000 tonnes capacity Longitudinal Submerged Arc welded mill in Yenegoa. She said another company Vigeo Steel is also taking similar steps to establish a 200,000 tonnes capacity HSAW mill in Abeokuta.
She stated that these expected investments in pipe mills would close up existing gap in demands for steel pipes by related industry operators in the country, adding that Nigeria would also save about USD 700 million and 10,000 jobs from such venture. She added that "I will expect to see this sort of pipe mill and fabrication yards begin to pop up in different areas of the country. And this was the whole intent of the Nigerian Content Act. You can only imagine the quantum of foreign direct investment that we will begin to save in this country over the next five to 10 years. We are very impressed. I must thank the International Oil Companies who have supported these types of projects."
Asked about the involvement of the Standard Organisation of Nigeria in the quality assessment of pipes fabricated from the mill, she said that "We are breaking new ground believe me within the shortest possible time SON will be fully on stream and would also make their presence felt here."
On the status of the Trans Saharan pipeline, she said tat "We are very much moving it forward; we have had a few setbacks but we hope that very soon we will see the final culmination of that project because it is a critical one for us. It is our strong aspiration to prepare these facilities that will supply a substantial proportion of the pipes to be used in the gas infrastructure projects from Nigeria. Therefore we must support the efforts of the investors comprehensively and without restraint to ensure that the pipe mills are completed by 2014."
(Sourced from www.thisdaylive.com)
