Gas supply shortfall: Time to stem pipeline sabotage

On June 2, the Utorogu and Ughelli East gas plants were shut down for repair, which was scheduled to be completed last Sunday, June 22. The shutdown of the gas plants resulted in downturn in the electricity supply in some locations across the country, including Lagos.

Prior to the shutdown, the Federal Government had warned that it would impact on the output of power generation stations that get their gas supplies from these plants. The affected power plants include the largest power generating station in the country Egbin power plant located in Lagos and Omotosho power plant in Ondo.

The resulting drop in power supply came on the heels of gradual improvement being seen in parts of the country after the sudden drastic rolling blackouts in which the nation was thrown into in November last year as a result of gas supply shortfall.

According to Chinedu Nebo, minister of power, at the completion of the scheduled maintenance and upgrades, there will be improved gas production and quality from the plants, which will noticeably increase the output of the affected power plants and increase generated power.

 Electricity consumers, who incidentally were subjected to an increase in electricity tariff beginning from June 1, are more than eager to see lasting significant improvement in power supply. But this expectation will continue to remain a mirage if the age-long menace of oil and gas pipeline vandalism affecting gas supply to power plants in the country is not effectively tackled.

As Beks Dagogo-Jack, chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Power (PTFP) noted at a recent dialogue in Lagos, with the large gas reserves available in Nigeria, there has been a focus of power generation on gas-fired power plants. However, recent problems with vandalism and attacks on crude and gas pipelines have revealed a significant risk point of the power reform in this regard.

Power generation in the country is still averaging 3,800 megawatts (MW) due to pipeline vandalism. According to the Multi Year Tariff Order, on which the recent upward review in tariff was based, current daily average power generated should be 4,875MWH/H, but this has not been met.

In February this year, the completion of the repairs of the Escravos gas pipeline which collapsed under the weight of frequent vandalism, led to over 1,000-MW increase in the electricity generation level.

But the repair had yet to translate to appreciable improvement in electricity supply in the country when another key pipeline Trans-Forcado was shut down for repairs in March as a result of vandalism, leading to significant shortfall in power supply in the country.

Pipeline vandalism has been a major threat to the nation’s growth prospects as its implication ranges from economic to social and political. Not a few of the nation’s strategic depots have been left idle and moribund for years as pipelines supplying products through them have been constantly under incessant attack by vandals.

According to the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), 10 million barrels of crude oil valued at $894 million were lost to pipeline vandalism between 2009 and 2011.

In 2012, the number of punctured points on pipelines rose drastically to about 4,000 from 2,300 in 2005, according to data from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). In 1999, there were 497 punctured points, 999 vandalised points in 2000. In 2005 it rose geometrically to a total of 2,300 and has continued to rise since then.

Despite government’s efforts, the nefarious activities of vandals on pipelines have not abated over the years.

David Ige, group executive director, gas and power, NNPC, at a recent summit in Lagos had said that the NNPC was working very closely with security agencies to curb the issue of pipeline vandalism, adding “We are looking at some technology like SCADA to minimise our response time and know exactly where the pipeline vandalism is taking place.”

Beyond the reactive approach to sabotage, we believe it is high time the government developed a national plan for the protection of critical assets such as gas pipelines, and perpetrators of these crimes should be arrested and prosecuted to serve as deterrent to others.