Power Sector Suffers Major Setbacks With Vandal Attacks

Byhttp://sunnewsonline.com/new/author/webmaster/

The recent attacks on the major Oil pipelines at the Escravos ‎facility in Warri area of Delta state by suspected Niger Delta militants has caused colossal damages to the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP).

About 600 megawatts of electricity generated by gas plants, particularly the Olorunsogo power plant among others, have been reportedly lost so far. This is even as security agencies have intensified the search for the culprits behind the act. ‎
Meanwhile, the attack on the Nigeria Gas Company’s pipeline connected to Chevron Nigeria Limited facility at Escravos has negatively impacted other power plants in the area. ‎
A statement by Hakeem Bello, media assistant to the Minister of Power, Babatunde Fashola, said the vandalised gas pipeline which contributes to the Escravos Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS) has led to a loss of 160mmsfcd of gas daily. At a cost of $2.50 per thousand scf, this loss means about $400,000 lost to the country on a daily basis (N78,800,000 daily) in gas volume.
This is in addition to losses to be incurred daily from power generation ($1,988,223 or N391,680,000 daily).
According to him, the total daily loss to the country is therefore estimated at N470,479,931. Repairs of the damaged pipeline is estimated to cost about $609,137 (N120,000.000)
“The real sector of the economy has also been counting its losses as some cement companies around Olorunsogo like Ewekoro and Ibese are also affected.
“The latest incident has occurred just as the Federal Government through the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources along with allied agencies has been making concerted efforts to improve gas supplies to the power plants.
“Such efforts led to previously offline plants like Ihovbor and Sapele coming back online and the subsequent output making up for the loss in power.
The pipelines, Bello said, are being actively monitored for further attacks.
Available records show that six incidences of vandalism from December 2014 to February 2015 which affected the Trans Forcados Pipeline (at Oben, Sapele, Oredo) and Escravos Lagos Pipeline System (CNL) led to a loss of 1,100 mmscfd. According to industry experts, a loss of 200 mmscd is equivalent to a power reduction of 700MW.

While the industry is currently generating about 4120Mwh/h on average (as of 17/01/2016), it is without doubt that performance would have been better without the additional setbacks caused by the weekend’s incident.
Last week at a monthly meeting of the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, with operators in the power sector, the Nigeria Gas Company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, and the GACN led by the minister of State of Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, shared information on significant gas projects aimed at improving gas supplies scheduled for completion in Q2 of 2016. They has highlighted some of the challenges related to security affecting delivery of gas to the power sector.
The NNPC has set up a committee with the Police, JTF (which includes Army, Airforce and Navy) and also community vigilante ‎groups, who have been tasked with the responsibility of securing these pipelines.
(Dennis Mernyi, SUN NEWS ONLINE)