By Sunday Elom
The Nigerian Gas Company (NGC) in a letter to power plants operators on December 20, 2021, has announced the disruption of gas supply to power plants in Delta state following the Trans-Forcados Pipeline (TFP) issues.
Recall that NGC had issued the notice of gas curtailment due to Abysmal System Pressure Levels that must be managed to avoid collapse of the gas grid.
According to NGC, the TFP which was breached on December 17, 2021 has impacted SEPLAT’s production and other producers. Also, Chevron Nigeria Ltd (CNL) lost a compressor because of technical issues.
The NGC seen by Daily Trust stated that there is a deferment and unavailability of gas to off-takers, of about 250 million standard cubic feet per day (MMscfd) of gas from the pipeline network.
It was reported that five power plants operated by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) comprising Olorunsogo, Omotosho, Sapele, Ihovbor and Geregu have been affected by the gas shortage.
However, whereas the Omotosho plant has shut down completely, Geregu and Ihovbor are still getting less gas supply.
Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, according to a Bloomberg report, had issued a temporary notice announcing that it has halted crude shipments from Nigeria’s Forcados export terminal in Delta State from 21st December, 2021.
It was learnt that more than 200,000 barrels of crude oil flows through the terminal daily.
Shell’s action is coming a month after the company announced that it was restoring flows from the Bonny facility in Rivers State.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited said in a notice that the stoppage occurred during the replacement of one of the two single point moorings at Forcados, with the positioning of a jack-up barge preventing tanker access, export operations and resumption of full production into the terminal.
According to ship tracking data monitored by Bloomberg, the presence of the jack-up offshore support vessel Seacor Strength at the Forcados moorings.
However, neither NNPC Limited nor Shell gave an indication of the period the shutdown will last. But a port agent report seen by Bloomberg stated that the stoppage may affect four ships scheduled to load this month.
Recall that since October this year when Shell announced month-long force majeure at its Bonny site, only one ship has loaded a cargo from the terminal.
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