Fenog Nigeria Acquires Rig to Stem Pipeline Sabotage

Nigerian firm, Fenog  said it has acquired a drilling rig that will make it difficult for oil thieves and vandals to sabotage oil and gas pipelines in the oil-rich country.

“Fenog has acquired the new horizonal directional drilling rig popularly called the HDD rig,” the company, based in the southern port city of Warri, said in a statement.

“By this new technology, Fenog is poised to collaborate with the federal government to ensure a more efficient refined and unrefined products distribution and indeed put an end to the worrisome pipeline vandalism,” it said.

The firm said the equipment estimated at around 15 million dollars, was imported from Germany and was in line with a recent policy by President Goodluck Jonathan to encourage greater participation of local firms in the country’s multi-billion-dollar oil and gas industry.

Fenog boss Mathew Tonlagha said the company has two PD 250 HDD rigs and one PD 500 rig in its stocks for the services of oil majors like Chevron and the Nigerian Gas Company.

He said the PD 500 rig was capable of drilling and laying up to 5.5 kilometres per stretch of pipes measuring between six and 70 inches in diametre up to a depth of a maximum of 100 metres.

The conventional drilling rig cannot go beyond two metres below the sea bed, making it vulnerable to pipeline vandals and saboteurs, he said.

The stealing of crude oil from the oil-rich Niger Delta by armed gangs, pirates and their foreign collaborators costs Nigeria millions of dollars in lost revenue every year.

A government amnesty programme introduced in 2009 for militants has doused tension in the Niger Delta and has boosted oil production in the oil-rich region.

AFP