Princewill Demian
03 January 2018, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, has ordered an immediate assessment of the damage caused by a fire on the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline (ELP), a pipeline which supplies natural gas from Escravos in Delta State to Lagos.
The gas pipeline fire has been blamed by officials of the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing for the widespread power blackout on Tuesday night.
The pipeline, built in 1989, also supplies gas to power plants in the South Western part of the country, in addition to feeding the West Africa Gas Pipeline System, which supplies gas to Nigeria’s West African neighbours – Republic of Benin, Togo and Ghana.
The ELP fire was suspected to have been caused by a bush fire on Tuesday, January 2, 2018 at Abakila in Ondo State.
NNPC firemen were drafted to the scene, but 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 depressurised, 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 power plants with a combined generating capacity of 1,143MW, including Egbin, Lagos;Paras Power Plant, Olorunshogo, PEL Olorunshogo, Ogun State; and Omotosho plant in Ondo State.