Attack On Escravos Gas Pipeline : Nigeria Loses N470 Million Daily
The Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, on Wednesday, revealed that the attack on the Nigeria Gas Company’s pipeline connected to Chevron Nigeria Limited’s facility at Escravos, which occurred over the weekend has negatively impacted the Olorunsogo NIPP plant (capacity 600MW), and other Power Plants, adding that the country now loses not less than N470,479,931million daily.
A statement signed by the special adviser, communications, to the hon. minister, Hakeem Bello, however noted that security agencies have intensified the search for culprits behind the act.
The statement said “The sabotaged 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 loss to the country on a daily basis (N78,800,000 daily) in gas volume.
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“This is in addition to losses to be incurred daily from affected Power generation ($1,988,223 or N391,680,000 daily). The total daily loss to the country is therefore estimated at N470,479,931.
The statement noted that the repairs of the damaged pipeline is estimated as costing ($609,137 or N120,000.000).
Bello further revealed that some cement companies around Olorunsogo like Ewekoro and Ibese have also been counting loses, adding that the latest incident 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.
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“The pipelines are being actively monitored for further attacks or other unforeseen impacts,” he said.
According to Usman, 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 at 17/01/2016), it is without doubt that performance would have been better without the additional setback caused by the weekend’s Incident,” he added.
