NNPC to Supply Gas from $662m East-West Pipeline by 2017
Expects ELPS-2 to increase supply to 2bcf/d by August
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said that it expects to start regular supply of gas to end users within the eastern part of Nigeria through its East-West gas pipeline in early 2017.
NNPC made this known yesterday at the ongoing 2015 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, Texas, adding that it was making significant progress with the execution of the $662 million gas supply infrastructure project, otherwise known as Obiafu- Obrikom and Oben (OB3) gas pipeline project.
It stated that it would achieve mechanical completion of the project by December 2016 and flow the first gas through the pipeline by early 2017.
“Construction has started on the East-West pipeline and we are beginning to make a lot of progress in terms of construction on both sides.
“Our expectation is that by December 2016, we would have mechanical completion of the pipelines and by early 2017 we would start to flow gas through the pipeline,” said
NNPC’s Group Managing Director, Joseph Dawha.
Dawha said this when he formally opened Nigeria’s stand at OTC. He was represented by the corporation’s Group Executive Director, Gas and Power, Dr. David Ige.
He also explained that work on the second Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS-2) had significantly progressed and that by August 2015 gas supply to end users in the western part of the country would have increased to 2 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d).
In his appraisal of work on the ELPS-2 project, Dahwa said: “The Lagos pipeline is almost completed and we expect that within the next three months that project is done.
“We have completed and commissioned Lagos all the way to Oben. We have completed Emure all the way to Itoke in Lagos, and so the bit that is still left is Benin to Emure and that is progressing very well and the expectation is that before August this year, the ELPS pipeline would have been completed and we would have doubled the capacity to two billion cubic feet per day. It should be the biggest pipeline in Africa in terms of capacity.”
Industry operators have often blamed Nigeria’s lack of an integrated nationwide pipeline system for the extant challenges experienced in the supply of gas to end users such as thermal power plants, resulting in the incessant power outages nationwide.
The current infrastructure, primarily owned and operated by NNPC’s subsidiary, the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC), is split between an eastern and western network of a combined 1,100 kilometres that are not interconnected. It is also considered that the development of the pipeline infrastructure network, though capital-intensive, is quite slow.
Dawha however spoke on the amount of gas currently supplied to Nigeria’s power sector, vis-à-vis the obvious drop in electricity generation.
According to him, “At the moment, gas supply to the power sector has grown to over a billion cubic feet per day and I think that before the end of this year we will see a significant increase as well in that.
“Cumulatively in the entire country we are producing about two billion cubic feet of gas now. Some of the gas that we are producing that is available is probably stranded because maybe some of the power plants are not ready.
“So over the next couple of months, you should see an increase in off-take. For example, we have got gas at the Gbaranuvie gas plant which hopefully should be commissioned very shortly; we have got gas at Omokwu which is awaiting the power plant. We have got gas for Egbema too.
“And when you bring all these gas volumes together, we have close to two billion cubic feet per day but not all of it is in active generation today either because the power plants are not ready or power evacuation is not ready.”