NNPC Set to Begin Repairs on Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System

•   Eko Disco tenders apology to residents

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is set to begin repairs on the burnt Excravos-Lagos Pipeline System, which disrupted gas supply to five power stations, media has learnt.

The national grid collapsed last Tuesday night following a fire incident reported by the Nigerian Gas Processing and Transportation Company Limited (NGPTC) on its Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System near Okada, Edo State.

NNPC had attributed the incident to a bush fire, which spread from Abakila in Ondo State.

The incident had led to the shutdown of the pipeline supplying gas to the 1,320MW-capacity Egbin power station in Lagos; 676MW-capacity Olorunsogo NIPP station; 338MW-capacity, Olorunsogo I power station; 450MW-capacity Omotosho NIPP station and the 338MW-capacity, Omotosho I station.

The Nigerian Gas Company (NGC), a subsidiary of the NNPC had pledged to work day and night to restore gas supplies to the five power stations within 24 hours.

However, the spokesman of NNPC, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu told THISDAY yesterday that pairs could not begin immediately because other steps had to be taken before repairs would commence.

“Have you been there to see the extent of the damage? The damage was massive and the first directive by the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru was that the fire should be put out. That has been done. He also directed that the extent of the damage should be ascertained and that has also been completed. The next step is to repair the pipelines and that will soon begin. But remember that the pipelines are insured,” Ughamadu explained.

After the Tuesday fire incident, the nationwide blackout had continued last Wednesday after efforts by the TCN to restore electricity failed, following a second system collapse of transmission network. The second system failure occurred when the Odukpani-Ikot Ekpene 330kV transmission line tripped, cutting off electricity generation and transmission from the Odukpani power station to the grid. TCN had explained that NGPTC, the gas supply and marketing subsidiary of NNPC, had indicated that a contractor had been mobilised to repair the affected segment of the Escravos-Lagos pipeline, so that gas supply to the Omotosho, Egbin, and Olorunsogo I and II thermal power stations could be restored.

According to NGC, work would be carried out day and night and was expected to be completed within 24 hours.

However, it was gathered that 96 hours after the Tuesday incident, gas supply has not been restored to the affected power stations.

The development has led to drastic drop in power generation nationwide. For instance, the peak generation on Friday was 3,741.1MW compared to 4,685.3MW peak generation attained on Monday, a day before the fire incident.

Also, the lowest generation last Friday was 107MW, which had also resulted to system disturbance on that day.

At exactly 06.00hours last Saturday, 3,733.40MW was sent to the national grid. Before the fire incident last Tuesday, the country on December 18, 2017, had attained a new generation peak of 5,222.3 megawatts. The feat was achieved after two electricity generation milestones of 5,155.9MW and 5,074.70MW were reached on December 8, 2017 and February 2, 2016, respectively.

Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC or Eko Disco) yesterday apologised to its consumers over the irregular power supply currently being experienced.

The General Manager, Corporate Communications, Mr. Godwin Idemudia, explained that the epileptic supply was due to a system collapse from the national grid affecting the entire country.

Idemudia, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said the system collapsed which occurred recently had resulted in nationwide blackout had really affected the EKEDC consumers.

According to the General Manager, since five days now, power supply to customers under our network has been on and off.

“Until Generation goes up, there is nothing we can do now because National Grid (NG) is the only source of our supply.

“We feel your pains. We are, therefore, appealing to customers to bear with us, as supply will be restored as soon as these repairs are concluded.

“EKEDC highly regrets any inconveniences caused by this irregular supply,” he said.

Nigeria was on Jan.2 thrown into a nationwide blackout as the country suffered total collapse of its power system grid.

The collapse followed a fire incident on Nigerian Gas Processing and Transportation Company Ltd (NGPTC’s) Escravos Lagos Pipeline System and a shutdown of pipeline supplying gas to 3,182 Mega Watt (MW) plants.

These plants include Egbin 1,320MW; Olorunsogo National Integrated Power Plant (NIPP) 676MW; Olorunsogo 338MW; Omotosho NIPP 450MW; Omotosho 338 MW and Paras 60MW power stations.

The Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, which confirmed the collapse and the shutdown of gas supply to the 3,182 MW plants, described the incident as a setback to the power sector.