MEDIATRACNET
Disruptions in normal supply of electricity in Abia State and environs would be inevitable as pipeline vandals have destroyed NOPL Line operated by TotalEnergies EP Nigeria Limited forcing the company to declare a Force Majeure before shutting down normal operations on the facility.
Force Majeure is an instruction from an operator to inform its customers that due to unforeseen circumstances it would not be able to meet the delivery of scheduled contracts.
The closure of the plant followed the vandalization of the pipeline by unknown persons at KP41 on Friday, January 7, 2022.
TotalEnergies EP Nigeria Limited, operator of the Total/NNPC joint venture, said in a letter to the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited (NDPHC) that “NOPL pipeline was vandalized on 7th January 2022 at KP41 Alaoma Etche Cluster. The Line Block Valve at KP38 was closed to isolate the sabotage point and depressurization of the line, this will affect gas supply to Alaoji (Power Plant) until further notice.
As a result of this development, TotalEnergies EP Nigeria Limited said that “Gas supply to Alaoji Power Plant was suspended due to this unfortunate event.
Preliminary investigations, the company announced, was ongoing to determine the extent of the damagel, while repair works shall commence as soon as feasible.”
Meanwhile, the Management of Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) Limited has expressed regrets over the announcement of the shutdown of 504MW Alaoji Power Plant on January 7, 2022.
This is the second power plant ro be shutdown within the last lne month.
The Omotosho NIPP was shut down last month when the Nigeria Gas Company (NGC) due to system wide curtailment of all gas shippers (gas producers/off takers) by Nigeria Gas Company (NGC) “to forestall the imminent collapse of the gas grid.”
The NGC said at the time that the Trans-Forcardos Pipeline (TFP), belonging to NGC, was breached on December 17, 2021.
That breach led to the deferment of about 250million standard cubic feet (SCF/D) of gas from the Pipeline Network, a situation that brought the Network Pressure to abysmal levels, thereby triggering an emergency.
The curtailment impacted operations of Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) Limited negatively with Omotosho NIPP being shut down and gas supply to GEREGU NIPP and Ihovbor NIPP also limited thus leading to part load or low generation from these available power plants.
“The Management of NDPHC hereby assures our customers that Alaoji Power Plant and others will resume power generation as soon as gas supply is restored,” Emmanuel Ojor, the spokesperson said.
