Ibadan-Mosimi Pipeline Most Vandalised in July

Fri, Dec 14, 2018 | By publisher


Oil & Gas

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation says total pipeline breaches in Nigeria stood at 204 in July with Ibadan-Mosimi line mostly affected

By Anayo Ezugwu

Following the successful resolution of the notorious pipeline vandalism flashpoints of Arepo and Ijeododo on the System 2B pipeline through the deployment of Horizontal Directional Drilling, HDD, vandals and oil thieves appear to have moved their nefarious activities to the Mosimi-Ibadan pipeline which recorded the highest pipeline breaches in the month of July 2018.

This was disclosed in the July 2018 edition of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Monthly Financial and Operations Report. According to the report, total pipeline breaches across the country in the month stood at 204, out of which 188 were identified to clear acts of sabotage.

Of the 188 vandalised points, the Mosimi-Ibadan line recorded 124 points, representing 66 percent of total pipeline sabotage points in the country while the Aba-Enugu, Port Harcourt-Aba and other lines accounted for the rest.

The report also indicated that a total of 1,858 vandalised points was recorded in the period from July 2017 to July 2018. The month under review also recorded an 8.81 percent rise in daily average of natural gas production from the previous month to 7,678.17 million standard cubic feet per day, mmscfd.

The report put the total natural gas production for the month at 230.35 billion cubic feet, bcf. It also indicated that a total of 3,084.09 BCF of gas was produced in the period from July 2017 to July 2018 representing an average daily production of 7,834.62mmscfd.

The daily average natural gas supply to the power sector for electric power generation in the period from July 2017 to July 2018, according to the report, stood at 744.86mmscfd, equivalent of 2,898mw. A further breakdown of the numbers showed that out of the total volume of gas supplied in July 2018, 127.19bcf of gas was commercialised, comprising of 35.55bcf and 91.65bcf for the domestic and export market respectively.

This translates to a total supply of 1,184.81mmscfd of gas to the domestic market and 3,055.00mmscfd of gas supplied to the export market for the month, implying that 55.98 percent of the average daily gas produced was commercialised, while the balance of 44.02 percent was re-injected, used as upstream fuel gas or flared.

The NNPC July report said gas flare rate was 9.33 percent (706.96mmscfd), compared with average gas flare rate of 10.44 percent (816.73mmscfd) for the period July 2017 to July 2018. In the downstream sector, the report revealed that the corporation continued to ensure increased fuel supply and distribution across the country to sustain seamless distribution of petroleum products and zero fuel queue across the nation.

It stated that 2.18 billion litres of white products were distributed and sold by the Petroleum Products Marketing Company, PPMC, in July 2018 compared with 1.46 billion litres in June 2018. According to the report, the sales comprised of 1.84 billion litres of petrol, 0.13 billion litres of kerosene and 0.21 billion litres of diesel, while total special products sold for the period was 10.70 million litres, comprising of 0.87 million litres of other special products and 9.83 million litres of LPFO or 16 percent, 12 percent and six percent respectively.

In the upstream sector, the NNPC Financial and Operations Report for July 2018 disclosed that average crude oil price stood at $72.57 per barrel in July 2018 as against $72.67 per barrel in June 2018. Industry watchers attributed the oil price decline to the slight rise in the global inventories, saying the scenario is expected to continue.

In July, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC Reference Basket, ORB, increased marginally by 0.07 percent to finish the month at $73.27 per barrel compared to the previous year ORB of $68.48 per barrel in the same period, indicating a higher value of $4.7 or seven percent.

– Dec. 14, 2018 @ 17:15 GMT |

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