*Appoints Kunle Allen as CEO, Gas Aggregator Company of Nigeria
18 April 2012, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke Wednesday declared a `12-month Gas Supply emergency plan’ designed to correct the misalignment and challenges in the nation’s gas to power aspirations.
She noted that a key aspect of the transformation agenda of President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, is the accelerated and sustained delivery of the much needed energy services to the Nigerian people, in particular, electricity.
She disclosed that delivery of gas to assure sufficient, uninterrupted supply to existing, as well as new thermal generating plants has been a special focus area of the ministry of Petroleum Resources.
“Up to recent times, gas supply to power plants outstripped demand to the extent that significant volumes of available gas remained unutilised on a daily basis. However a close analysis of the supply chain has revealed that over the last 10 years or so, there has been significant misalignment between power projects and gas supply sources.
“Even so, with the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP) coming on stream, there are indications of increasing pressure to meet up with the quantity of gas required as fuel to power the plants and at the correct locations.
“To quickly and holistically address the misalignment, I am immediately deploying a 12-month “Domestic Gas Supply Emergency Plan.” During this period, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, together with the NNPC and the gas producing companies will deploy extraordinary measures to accelerate opportunities for quick wins in order to ameliorate the potential gap between gas demand and supply.
“In my capacity as the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources, and with the approval of Mr President and on the strength of the extraordinary situations the country faces, a decision has been taken to strengthen the capacity, as well as the roles of the Gas Aggregation Company of Nigeria Limited (GACN), which is a DPR – regulated company of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources with responsibility for gas sourcing and allocation, as well as Operator of the commercial framework of the Gas Master Plan,” she disclosed.
Diezani pointed out that in addition to its traditional gas demand management role which includes processing requests from gas buyers, managing gas supply/demand allocation, as well as facilitating Gas Supply Aggregation Agreement (GSAA) negotiations, the GACN will henceforth be accountable for the following:
* Identifying gas sources/suppliers and designing incentives for accelerated domestic gas delivery
*Driving the implementation of the findings of the recently constituted Emergency Gas Committee with emphasis on short and medium term gas supply, and on a sustained basis
*Ensuring integration as well as alignment between gas demand and supply to ensure robustness of longer term gas supply to power, and,
*Provide implicit data to enable the DPR to be more proactive in compelling suppliers to meet Domestic gas Supply Obligations.
The minister also disclosed that the President has approved the appointment of Mr. Kunle Allen as the substantive Chief Executive Officer for the Gas Aggregation Company of Nigeria (GACN), adding that within the period of emergency he will be required to report directly to the he office and will be accountable for the delivery of the roles outlined above.
