NNPC to commence immediate assessment of damaged Escravos pipeline

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said it will commence immediate assessment of the damaged Escarvos-Lagos Pipeline (ELP).

The pipeline was damaged by fire on Tuesday and it has led to loss of over 3200 megawatts (MW) power generation to Nigerians.

In a statement by the spokesman of NNPC, Ndu Ughamadu on Wednesday, the Group Managing Director of NNPC Dr Maikanti Baru, ordered an immediate assessment of the damage.

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The damaged gas pipeline supplies gas from Escravos region of the Niger Delta area to Lagos.

The pipeline also supplies gas to power plants in the South West, in addition to feeding the West Africa Gas Pipeline System.

The incineration of the ELP, which was built in 1989, was suspected to have been caused by a bush fire January 2, 2018 at Abakila, in Ondo State.

NNPC firemen were drafted to the scene and were able to contain the fire from the leak point of the pipeline incident. However, the fire could not be extinguished due to the high pressure of the line.

To put off the fire, the line would require being isolated and depressurized, which might lead to a complete shutdown of the pipeline segment for repair works to be carried out.

The exercise will affect gas supply to customers in Ondo, Ogun and Lagos State with subsequent shutdown of the following power plants with a combined generating capacity of 1,143MW: Egbin, Lagos, Olorunshogo, PEL Olorunshogo, Ogun, Paras Power Plant, Ogun and Omotosho plant, Ondo State.

However, the Ministry of Power in a statement said the fire incident required a shutdown of the pipeline supplying gas to Egbin, 1,320MW; Olorunsogo NIPP, 676MW; Olorunsogo, 338MW; Omotosho NIPP, 450MW; Omotosho, 338 MW; and Paras, 60MW on Tuesday.

It said the sudden loss of generation due to interruption in gas supply from these stations caused the national transmission grid to trip off around 8:20pm on Tuesday.