•Corporation insists ruptured line won’t affect power production
•Says it would be fixed in 3 days
Chineme Okafor in Abuja and Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City
The volume of electricity produced by power generation companies (Gencos) in Nigeria and supplied to homes and offices in the country yesterday dropped to 2, 472 megawatts (MW), from 3, 620MW the previous day, data from the Advisory Power Team in the Office of the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has revealed. This is as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) stated that power production by the Gencos would not be affected by an oil pipeline burst, which occurred recently on the Abura crude trunk line operated by the corporation.
NNPC denied reports that the incident was an explosion, describing it, instead, as a rupture, and saying its engineering team has been mobilised to the location to fix the rupture within three days.
Osinbajo’s office explained in the operations data, which was obtained by THISDAY, that up to 1, 170MW of electricity could not be generated into the national grid by the Gencos due to unavailability of gas. It also explained that a whopping 2, 519MW was not generated into the grid due to high frequency resulting from unavailability of distribution infrastructure.
According to the data, “On August 30, 2019, average energy sent out was 2,472MWH/Hour (down by 1,148 MWH/Hour from the previous day). 1,170MW was not generated due to unavailability of gas. 47.9 MW was not generated due to unavailability of transmission infrastructure, while 2,519 MW was not generated due to high frequency resulting from unavailability of distribution infrastructure.”
The record stated that the power sector lost an estimated N1.794 billion on August 30 due to constraints from insufficient gas supply, distribution infrastructure, and transmission infrastructure.
“The dominant constraint on August 30, 2019 was due to high frequency resulting from unavailability of distribution infrastructure – constraining a total of 2,519MW from being available on the grid,” it added.
THISDAY observed from the data obtained from Osinbajo’s office that Nigeria’s power supply had hovered around 3, 500MW since January, indicating drop in supply.
Meanwhile, a statement from the NNPC quoted its Group Managing Director, Mallam Mele Kyari, as saying that the rupture on the pipeline at Otu-Jeremi town, in Ughelli, Delta State, which is operated by its upstream subsidiary, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), was not as significant as reported in the media.
The statement signed by NNPC’s Group General Manager, Public Affairs, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, said Kyari spoke shortly after teeing off the 2019 NNPC Upstream Golf Tournament in Benin City.
Kyari said regarding the Otu-Jeremi incident, in the statement, “It was not an explosion. It was a rupture on one of our pipelines. Our team of engineers have since moved to site. In three days, we should be able to fix it. We have since contained the spill coming out of that pipeline. There was no fire anywhere on the pipeline. So there is no cause for alarm.”
He assured that the incident would not affect the country’s power supply, and called on host communities within the area to disregard the rumours.
On the tournament, Kyari said Benin Golf Club had remained important to NNPC because it availed staff of the various operations of the corporation in Benin City the opportunity to work and maintain a healthy lifestyle through the game of golf.
He said, “Our operations require the support of all stakeholders to succeed. We see our relationship with the Benin Golf Club as very crucial in helping us achieve our key targets of growing production, increasing the nation’s reserves and ensuring a lasting peace in the Niger Delta.”
The statement also noted that the Captain of the Benin Golf Club, Prince Aghatise Erediauwa, said in his remarks that NNPC had an age-old relationship with the club, which was in line with its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy.
“We are very honoured to have the GMD coming down here to tee off this year’s tournament, even though he has very tight schedule. We are very pleased and we hope this relationship continues for years to come,” Erediauwa stated.
