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Nigeria’s State House said on October 22 that local engineering firm Lee Engineering had built two midline compressor stations for the Escravos–Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS), a project intended to enable the pipeline to operate at its designed capacity of 2.3 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu received Lee Engineering Group founder and chairman Leemon Ikpea at the State House in Abuja, where the project and local industrial participation were discussed.
The stations are in Edo State and are being delivered by Lee Engineering under an engineering, procurement and construction arrangement, according to the presidency. ELPS II increased the pipeline’s designed capacity from 1.1 billion to 2.3 billion standard cubic feet per day. The State House said the new compressor stations are needed to increase operating pressure and allow the system to deliver at the expanded design level. The release did not specify the facilities’ commissioning status, actual throughput, test results or the date when the full capacity would be reached.
The 2.3 billion figure is a designed daily capacity, not a reported production or delivery result. Compressor stations can support pipeline pressure and transport capability, but achieved flows depend on gas supply, operating conditions and connected infrastructure. The official announcement described the stations as built and said they would enable full-capacity operation; it did not provide measured daily volumes or confirm that ELPS was already transporting that quantity when the statement was issued.
The presidency said stronger gas transportation along the corridor could support supply to power plants and industries and enable higher deliveries to neighbouring West African countries through the West African Gas Pipeline. It also cited potential export earnings and employment. These are expected benefits described by the government; the statement did not quantify incremental power generation, industrial consumption, exports, jobs or revenue attributable to the stations.
Ikpea told the president that Lee Engineering’s fabrication yard in Warri, Delta State, was manufacturing some components for the compressor stations. He described the yard as having advanced fabrication equipment. The State House said the project reflected the capacity of Nigerian engineering firms to undertake complex EPC work. The release did not disclose contract value, the share of components made locally, the foreign or local subcontractor split, or the project’s workforce figures.
Tinubu reiterated the administration’s Nigeria First policy and urged international oil companies operating in Nigeria to provide more opportunities to capable domestic engineering and manufacturing businesses. The State House also referred to 2024 executive orders and presidential directives on local-content compliance, contracting costs and approval timelines. Those policy statements provide context for the meeting; the report does not establish that a new procurement rule or contract was created during it.
The announcement therefore combines a project update with the government’s industrial-policy position. It supports the claim that Lee Engineering built two stations in Edo and that their stated purpose is to help unlock the ELPS II design capacity. It is not independent verification of commissioning, sustained flow, additional gas availability or commercial export volumes. The State House did not publish a separate engineering completion certificate or operating data in the report.