Darkness looms as six power plants halt operations over gas shortage

“These challenges have led the NGC to issue the notice of gas curtailment arising from the abysmal system pressure levels that must be managed to avoid collapse of the gas grid.”

It added, “According to the NGC, the Trans-Forcardos Pipeline was breached on December 17, 2021 and has impacted Seplat’s production and may affect other producers if not immediately repaired.

“Also, the NGC reported that the Nigeria Petroleum Development Company’s Ughelli East Plant is currently down, while Chevron Nigeria Limited had also lost a compressor because of technical issues.”

It noted that the combined impact of all these issues was a deferment, unavailability to off-takers, of about 250 million standard cubic feet of gas from the pipeline network.

On plants that were affected, the power firm said, “The NHPHC has five of its operational power plants viz, Olorunsogo, Omotosho, Sapele, Ihovbor and Geregu impacted by this gas curtailment, while Omotosho NIPP (National Integrated Power Project) has been forced to shut down.

“Geregu NIPP and Ihovbor NIPP are only receiving limited gas volumes thus leading to part load or low generation operation.”

The letter, however, stated that the management of the NDPHC was monitoring the situation and was committed to ensuring that the plants return to full operations as soon as gas supply improves. (Punch)