– Egbin plant witnesses a hitch
– As power supply worsens
OpeOluwani Akintayo
Lagos — There appears to end in sight to Nigeria’s power supply woos as parent company of Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), Eni, has declared force majeure at Brass terminal, Bonny NLNG and Okpai Power Plant.
A statement by the management of Eni on Monday indicates that there was a blast at its facility in Nembe, deferring gas output of 13 million standard cubic metres per day due to the incident.
NAOC said it declared ‘Force Majeure’ on expected oil output at Brass terminal, gas feeds to Bonny NLNG and Okpai Power Plant.
Force Majeure is a legal clause in contracts which absolves firms from legal liabilities due to circumstances beyond its control.
The oil company stated that the incident was the second attack in a few days after an earlier incident on Feb 28 at its Obama flow station led to a production shortfall of 5,000 barrels per day.
Oil export from its Brass Export terminal has been cut by some 25,000 barrels per day, according to the statement.
“An incident occurred on the Ogoda/Brass 24” oil line, at Okparatubo in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
“The event was caused by a blast, consequently causing a spill.
“All wells connected to that pipeline were immediately shut-in whilst river booms and containment barges were mobilized to reduce the impact of the spill.
“Regulators for inspection visit and repair teams have also been activated. State and Federal Government and Security authorities were notified.
“Deferred production is estimated at 25 kbopd oil and about 13 MSCM/d of gas.
“These spills have threatened our vocation and they oil companies responsible have been insensitive to the plight of fishermen who operate in their neighbourhood.
“Whenever there is a spill, our nets and other fishing gears get soaked in crude and get condemned because you can no longer use them as the smell of crude scares fish away.
“We have written to the companies concerned to see reason with us and assist us but have not got any response, we are contemplating seeking redress in court,” The fishermen leader said.
National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) confirmed the Joint Investigative Visits on the two incidents have been conducted but said that the field officers assigned were yet to file their reports.
Mr Idris Musa, Director-General, said that the two incidents were traced to vandalism, adding that 20 barrels leaked in the Feb 28 incident while 1,249.8 barrels were discharged into the environment in the second incident.
SweetcrudeReports learnt that Egbin Power plant is also currently witnessing hitches in generation due to shortfall in gas supply.
This has further worsened the current poor power supply across the country.
SweetcrudeReports had last week, reported how 14 power plants have either packed up or are not generating enough power in the last two months.
The challenges are yet to be resolved, even as the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, Association of Power Generation Companies, GenCos and Distribution Companies, DisCos trade blame over the current power outages.
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