The Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, yesterday said that oil pipelines in the country had become obsolete, reason the federal government was seeking investors to revamp the over 5,200 kilometres infrastructure nationwide.
Speaking when the Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Shehu Mohammed, visited him yesterday in Abuja, the minister stated that though it wasn’t normal practice to resort to tankers to move petroleum products, Nigeria will have to make do with it for now, until the pipelines are rehabilitated.
He stated that the ministry was deeply concerned by the recurrent cases of accidents caused by some of Nigeria’s peculiarities at this particular time, but he agreed that products should ordinarily be transferred through the pipelines.
“Ordinarily, petroleum products ought to be transported through pipelines to nearer locations where people can come and then take to final their destination. But most of the pipelines have already outlived their lifespan, and it’s very capital intensive to replace them.”
