Sub-Saharan Africa refers to the collection of African nations which are situated south of the Sahara desert. Engineering and constructing pipelines in this region of the world requires the ability to navigate diverse terrain from the swamps of Nigeria, to the savannahs of Angola and the urban centres of South Africa. Significant petroleum resources are also contained in fields off the coast of Africa, including offshore Ghana and Cameroon.

In 2009, the African Development Bank and the African Union released a comprehensive report into the oil and gas industry in Africa. One of its key recommendations to governments was to build oil and gas pipelines to enable sustainable exploitation of the continent’s indigenous oil and gas reserves.

Both indigenous and international companies are investing in the pipeline infrastructure to supply domestic markets and to export to international markets.

Angola

A consortium of five companies is developing Angola’s natural gas resources as part of the Angola LNG Project.

Initially a one train 5.2 MMt/a LNG plant will be built in the vicinity of Soyo, south of the Congo River, in the northern Zaire Province of Angola.

Angola has ample proven gas resources to supply the plant for over 20 years. The primary source of supply for the LNG plant during the early years of operation will be associated gas from current oil production. However, as the oil fields mature and associated gas production declines, non-associated gas from previously discovered gas fields will feed the plant.

Three export pipelines will transport the gas from the offshore fields to the LNG plant. The three pipelines consist of an 18 inch diameter pipeline from Block 15, a 22 inch diameter pipeline from Blocks 0 and 14 and a 24 inch diameter pipeline from Block 17 and Block 18.

A joint venture between Acergy and Spiecapag has completed the installation of the nearshore section of the pipeline network in 2010. Approximately 50 km of pipeline from Blocks 0, 14, 15, 17 and 18 were installed as well as the shore approach and above water tie-ins for these pipelines. First LNG is scheduled for early 2012.

Cameroon

Foster Wheeler AG has been awarded a contract to carry out pre-front-end engineering design (pre-FEED) for the development of an onshore LNG plant and offshore gas gathering pipelines and infrastructure on the southern coastline of Cameroon.

The Cameroon LNG Project, jointly owned by GDF Suez and Cameroon’s SNH, involves a single-train onshore LNG plant with a production capacity of up to 3.5 MMt/a. The project also includes an upstream gas gathering system and subsea pipeline tie-ins to offshore production facilities.

Foster Wheeler will develop the preliminary design basis for the liquefaction facility, gas gathering and treatment facilities and export facilities. The pre-FEED is scheduled to be completed this year.

Ghana

Ghana’s Government has proposed the construction of an offshore pipeline to export commercial quantities of gas from the Jubilee Field, located 60 km offshore Ghana.

The Jubilee Field commenced producing oil in December 2010 and associated gas is currently being flared. The Government is considering a number of options for the development of the pipeline infrastructure. It has previously stated that the pipeline could feed either the Osagyefo thermal plant at Effasu or the Aboadze power plant located at Takoradi, both situated on Ghana’s coast.

A small part of the proposed pipeline has already been contracted to Technip. The scope of the contract covers the engineering, welding and installation of a 14 km subsea pipeline, as well as the engineering, fabrication and installation of a pipeline terminal, which will connect the rigid flowline and the flexible riser.

Ghana’s Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Ltd is completing feasibility studies to construct a modern gas transmission system. The Western Corridor Natural Gas Transmission Pipeline will establish the foundation for commercialisation of natural gas production from the Jubilee Field and other gas deposits in the country.

Kenya

In April 2011, China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Corporation (CPPEC) completed the final river crossing on Kenya Pipeline Company’s Line IV expansion pipeline between Nairobi and Eldoret, Kenya.

CPPEC completed the crossing of the Ailikaite River, the last of 28 river crossings on the project, ahead of the wet season.

The Line IV expansion project involves the construction of a 14 inch, 325 km pipeline, which runs parallel to the existing Multi-Product Oil Pipeline from Nairobi to Eldoret.

CPPEC was awarded the construction contract in October 2009 and the pipeline is scheduled to be completed by mid-2011.

The Kenyan Government and Indian company ESSAR Group have expressed interest in a joint venture with the Uganda Government to construct an oil refinery and pipeline to export oil from Uganda to Kenya.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said that the joint venture is needed in order to work out how to reconfigure the current infrastructure from Kampala, Uganda, to Mombasa, Kenya, through Eldoret. Currently Uganda does not have an oil refinery and relies on imports delivered to the Kenyan port of Mombasa and imported to Uganda via a pipeline.

Malawi

The Malawi Government will invest approximately $US6.5 million for preliminary construction work on the country’s first oil pipeline. The pipeline will transport oil from Beira in neighbouring Mozambique to Nsanje in Malawi, a distance of approximately 410 km.

The Qatari company Venessia Petroleum has undertaken a preliminary engineering and design study for the project.

Mozambique

Environmental concerns have delayed construction of the Mozambique – South Africa Pipeline, according to the construction company Petroline.

Communities and farmers near the pipeline’s route had appealed against South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs’ decision to issue an environmental impact assessment record of decision that would have allowed Petroline to begin construction.

The Department has dismissed the appeal clearing the last regulatory barriers to commencement of construction. However no notice of commencement of activity on the project has been lodged by Petroline with the Department. “As such, we are of the opinion that no construction has commenced on the project,” a government official told Pipelines International in May 2011.

Nigeria

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Group Managing Director Austen Oniwon has said that his company is working toward building critical gas infrastructure including the 395 km Calabar – Ajaokuta Pipeline and the 740 km Ajaokuta – Kaduna – Kano Pipeline, which will help guarantee the long-term energy security of Nigeria.

The two pipeline projects will connect to form the South – North Pipeline, transporting gas to the eastern, middle belt and northern regions of Nigeria. It is also planned that the pipeline will form part of the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline.

Nigeria, Niger and Algeria have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to construct the approximately 4,400 km Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline, which will carry gas from Nigeria, across all three countries and connect with existing gas pipelines to Europe.

The pipeline will stretch from the Warri region in Nigeria, to Hassi R’Mel in Algeria, and is expected to have a capacity of 30 Bcm/a.

The project is expected to deliver first gas by 2015, and cost a total of $US12 billion to construct.

Saipem has been awarded a subcontract for the Critical Crude Pipeline Replacement Project. The project involves the replacement of six 10–24 inch diameter pipelines, with a total combined length of 85 km, which will connect six platforms in an offshore field.

The scope of work to be executed under the contract includes the fabrication, transportation, installation and testing of the new pipelines, as well as a shore approach and bridges.

Saipem will carry out the offshore activities, predominantly with the Crawler pipelay vessel, in 2011.

Rwanda

The African Development has granted $US600,000 to the East African Community to undertake a study for an oil product pipeline between Kigali, Rwanda, and Bujumbura, Burrundi, a distance of approximately 310 km.

“The plan is to link Kigali by a pipeline from Kampala, which will allow petroleum products to be accessed from the planned refinery in Uganda, as well as the existing refinery in Mombasa and international markets,” said Kenya’s Permanent Secretary for Energy Patrick Nyoike.

South Africa

Construction on the 544 km Durban – Gauteng multi-products pipeline in South Africa is ahead of schedule and is now due to be completed in September, more than a year earlier than previous estimates.

Transnet had previously indicated that December 2012 was its earliest completion date, while August 2013 was the latest completion date for all construction activities.

In 2007, Transnet (formerly Petronet) received a construction licence from the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) to construct and operate the 544 km, 24 inch diameter Durban – Gauteng Pipeline and an associated 160 km, 16 inch diameter inland pipeline network.

The project involves the replacement and expansion of the Durban – Johannesburg Pipeline, which transports refined petroleum products from two refineries in Durban, as well as imported refined petroleum products from storage facilities located in the Port of Durban.

The new pipeline will include three pump stations and the construction of storage terminals in Durban and Johannesburg.

A joint venture between Arup and WorleyParsons was awarded the engineering, procurement and construction management contract for the project, and the coated line pipe has been supplied by South Africa’s Impumeleo Pipeline.

A joint venture between France’s Spiecapag and South Africa’s Group Five was awarded the construction contract in May 2008, with Spiecapag acting as operational leader for the project.

Tanzania

EastCoast Transmission is proposing to expand the Songas Pipeline, which is the onshore section of Tanzania’s Songo Songo – Dar es Salaam Pipeline.

The intention is to initially double the existing 207 km Songas Pipeline, which runs from Somanga Funga, where the offshore pipeline from the Songo Songo gas field connects to the mainland, to the pipeline’s current terminus at Dar es Salaam.

EastCoast Transmission has already undertaken some preliminary engineering studies for this section and is in the process of registering for the Environmental Impact Assessment and procuring an international consultant for the preparation of the basic engineering study.

The final diameter of the onshore pipeline and possible new offshore pipeline will be decided based on the initial results of the Songo Songo West drilling campaign and views on the overall potential of exploration potential within Tanzania.

The company is currently finalising an Early Option Report, which will form the basis of basic engineering studies. Tendering for the basic engineering works and project management and the award of contracts is scheduled to take place during the second half of 2011.

EastCoast will then be in a position to tender for an engineering, procurement and construction contract in the first quarter of 2012.

The final draft feasibility report for the Dar es Salaam – Tanga – Mombasa Natural Gas Pipeline project has been submitted to the project’s stakeholders for consideration.

The final draft feasibility report identifies five different pipeline routes ranging in lengths from 124–430 km, as well as a 360 km offshore route. Based on demand for gas, the pipeline has been estimated to be a 24 inch diameter line from Ubungo in Dar es Salaam to Vipingo in Mombasa. It will be coated and buried at a depth of 1 m and will be designed for a pressure of 100 bar.

The project entails construction of a natural gas pipeline from Dar es Salaam to Tanga and Mombasa including related facilities and provision for possible future expansion of the pipeline system such as construction of a spur line to supply key consumption centres such as the cities of Moshi and Arusha and other off-take points.

The feasibility study commenced in July 2010 and carried out by a Danish consulting firm COWI A/S in association with COWI Tanzania and Runji and Partners Consulting Engineers of Kenya.

The African Development Bank is supporting the EAC by financing the study through a grant of $US561,700.

Uganda

The Ugandan Government is inviting bids from international firms for the construction of the 230 km long refined-fuel products Hoima – Kampala Pipeline.

Uganda State Minister for Energy Simon D’Ujanga has said that he expected tenders would be issued later this year to prequalified companies interested in the construction of the pipeline.

Mr D’Ujanga has also reportedly said that the Hoima – Kampala pipeline is expected to be linked with Kenya's Mombasa – Eldoret Pipeline, and later extended to Rwanda, Burundi and mineral-rich eastern Congo.