Presidency Labels Pipeline Vandals Threat to Power Sector 26 Aug 2013 Font Size: a / A Pipeline Community issues shut-in 208MW from Shell’s Afam-six plant By Chineme Okafor The presidency, at the weekend, said the activities of petroleum pipeline vandals in the Niger Delta region were increasingly becoming a serious threat to operations in Nigeria’s power sector. It, therefore, called on Nigeria’s national security formations to consider pipeline vandalism as a national treat and take full measures against perpetrators of the act. Its declaration came on the heels of a disclosure that power supply from the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) operated 624 megawatts (MW) Afam-6 combined cycle power plant in Rivers State has remained shot of 208MW owing to existing interference from its host community, Ayama. The Chairman of the Presidential Taskforce on Power (PTFP), Beks Dagogo-Jack, who disclosed this, while inspecting some vandalised petroleum pipeline sites in Rivers State, said the quantum of pipeline vandalism in the region had affected the operations of thermal power plants, which were often shut-down owing to drop in gas supplies. Dagogo-Jack explained that the implication of such incidents is that the country was often thrown into darkness each time the pipelines were vandalised. He said: “Pipeline vandalism has a disastrous impact on electricity supply in that the production and availability of gas to fuel over 5000MW of thermal power plants representing over 80 per cent of the nation’s available power totally depends on these pipelines’ ability to continuously evacuate certain by-product liquids from the gas processing facilities to the export terminals during the production process. “The PTFP has identified a critical linkage between the acts of vandalism, the illegal refining activity and the threat to electricity supply. The feedstock for the illegal refineries is the stolen crude from the illegal refining whilst the main crude from vandalised refining, is poor-grade automotive gas oil (AGO/diesel) and then the single biggest market for this illegally refined products is fuel for generators sold through nationwide black market channels. “It stands to reason, therefore, that the agenda of these saboteurs is to continue to expand the supply and sale of their illegally refined products which can only be sustained by the frequent organised pipeline attacks aimed at both stealing the crude and shutting down of the nation’s thermal generating assets. This is a vicious cycle which can potentially cripple our economy and frustrate the genuine efforts of this administration to deliver on its commitment on power sector reform.” He stated that the activities of vandals represent vicious attacks on the foundation of Nigeria in the critical areas of national revenue, environmental degradation and sustainable electricity supply. “I consider this a major national security threat and a serious act of sabotage,” he noted. Meanwhile, the plant manager of Afam-6 power plant, Ben Agbajogu in a presentation made to the PTFP, disclosed that the plant, which was earlier shut down as a result of associated pipeline vandalism was still operating below its capacity. Agbajogu said as much as 208MW of power was still shut-in within the plant following sustained community interferences with operations at the plant. He noted that the firm had made overtures to the state government and security formations with the hope that the traditional ruler concerned and his subjects would see reason to stop disrupting the plant’s operations. Also, SPDC’s Pipeline Asset Manager, Mr. Jurgen Janzen, in a similar presentation stressed that tackling pipeline vandalism in the region had increasingly become a huge task for SPDC. Janzen said: “Despite the actions taken and additional deployment of government security forces, there remains significant illegal, bunkering activities. Whenever there is increased security presence in one of the areas, some of the activities shift to other areas. We have seen the extremely frustrating effects of these activities on the power sector of recent.” He explained that in addition to existing security measures, SPDC was test-running the installation of fibre optics on its pipelines to detect intrusions and leaks. He said: “We have seen that this is a clearly lucrative business for the people involved in it, despite the devastation on the power sector and the economy as a whole. There is also the issue of the poor living condition of the communities where the pipelines are hosted. It is a billion dollar business. “It is difficult for us to be everywhere. It is not just a technical solution. This needs to stop at the highest level. We know that it is not just about the communities. Most of those involved are not the poor communities, but some powerful groups with high sophistication. It is beyond SPDC to stop this criminality. Many of the communities are not happy with what happens at their backyards. So, it is something requiring greater government intervention.” Janzen further explained that SPDC had so far removed about 169 illegal connections from approximately 400 kilometres of its pipeline situated in the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNPL) and Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL).
Posted on: Mon, 26 Aug 2013 08:09:18 +0000
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