Ike Amos
11 January 2018, Sweetcrude, Abuja — The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Thursday, stated that an explosion has occurred on the Escravos to Lagos Pipeline, forcing it to shut down the facility once again, less than one week after its reopening.
In a statement in Abuja, the NNPC said its Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, had directed that repair works be executed immediately on the pipeline.
Baru stated that the pipeline was ruptured by an explosion Thursday, along Egbokodo-Omadino, in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State.
He further directed that gas supply from other sources like Oben, Oredo, Sapele, Ughelli, and Utorogu be stepped up to augment any shortfalls as repair works have commenced on the pipeline.
The NNPC said the Escravos pipeline supplies gas to power plants, in addition to feeding the West Africa Gas Pipeline System.
It recalled that the ELPS-C (downstream) of this pipeline was incinerated by a bushfire January 2 at Abakila, in Ondo State, which had since been rectified and brought back to service.
It noted that the earlier fire incident had affected gas supply to customers in Ondo, Ogun and Lagos State with the subsequent shutdown of some power plants with a combined generating capacity of 1,143 megawatts (MW).
