BREAKING NEWS, Oil & Gas
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The activities of vandals have taken their toll on the economy of the country as the power sector is mostly affected due to the inadequate gas supply to the power plants as a result of ruptured pipelines. But the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has promised that gas supply to power will increase soon
| By Maureen Chigbo | Feb. 3, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT
PIPELINE vandalisation is ruining the economy of the country. In the last six months, the activities of the vandals have ruptured many pipelines across the country with it attendant fall in the supply of gas through the pipelines to the plants to generate power. This has led to epileptic power supply in the country. Some of the affected gas pipelines are the Escravos-Warri stretch of the Escravos Lagos Pipeline System, ELPS, which accounts for (190mmcf/d) and the Trans-Forcados crude pipeline (230mmcf/d). More than 30 percent (480MMsf/d) of the installed gas supply capacity was out due mainly to vandalism. The lost gas is the equivalent to the gas requirement to generate about 1,600MW of electricity.
The management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, on Monday, January 20, explained that the recent drop in gas supply for power generation was due to rising incidents of outright sabotage of some crucial gas pipelines which has significantly eroded available gas supply to the power plants. Andrew Yakubu, group managing director of the corporation, said “The remaining supply shortfall is due to maintenance issues at Utorogu gas plant (60mmcf/d). The outage of the ELPS A pipeline has been on for over six months due to willful acts of vandalism at various locations between Escravos and Egwa location.’’ .
According to Yakubu, on June 25, 2013, an explosion rocked the ELPS and further investigation revealed that dynamite had been used on four ruptured points. Engineers from the Nigerian Gas Company were mobilised immediately to commence repair works but as repairs progressed, more points of rupture emerged. “At the last count, 20 ruptured points have been identified, all due to deliberate dynamite explosion. NGC completed repairs in November and on commissioning in December, rapid pressure loss was experienced indicating further rupture in weakened locations. We have since effected repair of these new points and re-commenced commissioning activities,’’ he said.
Yakubu said all things being equal, gas supply will be reinstated in the weeks ahead. “The cumulative effect of the above interruptions is a real degradation of power supply to Nigerians. The ministry of petroleum and NNPC will continue to make effort to ensure gas supply in a difficult environment. It is expected that a major improvement in power supply should be achieved in the weeks ahead as the various repairs are completed,’’ he said.
According to him, beyond the ongoing repair works, many projects are ongoing to bring in additional supply to bridge the growing demand by the power sector. “By the end of Q2/Q3 2014, additional 200mmcf/d of gas is expected from two National Petroleum Development Company, NPDC, projects at Utorogu and Oredo. In addition, with the planned completion of the Omoku and Alaoji NIPP power plants, further boost in generation is expected as both plants have gas supply available awaiting completion of the power plants”, he said.
It is expected that in 2015, many other projects will mature progressively and by 2016 when the East-West pipeline is completed, a major boost in supply will be attained as over 250mmcf/d of gas stranded in the East will be diverted to meet the growing power demand.
“If the occurrence of pipeline attacks is arrested, we expect nothing but a continuous and steady upward growth in gas supply to power from the end of this month, with a noticeable increase in electricity seen by Nigerians,’’ Yakubu said.
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