Ike Amos
19 June 2017, Sweetcrude, Abuja — The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Monday, said its daily average natural gas supply to power plants in the country slightly decreased to 672 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) in April 2017.
In a statement by its Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, the NNPC said the amount of gas supplied to the power sector in April, was in comparison to 689mmscfd recorded in the previous month and was equivalent to power generation of 2,787 megawatts (MW).
The NNPC added that gas supplied in April was 22.85 percent higher than the corresponding supply recorded in April 2016 of 547mmscfd.
Despite the dip in supply to power plants, the NNPC stated that average national daily gas production stood at 242.32 Billion Cubic Feet, BCF in April, or an average of 8.077 million Standard Cubic feet per day, representing 6.79 percent increase relative to the previous month.
Ughamadu further stated that the extensive engagement with oil and gas community stakeholders embarked upon by the Federal Government and the NNPC had continued to yield positive results with the attainment of 12.77 per cent reduction in downstream pipeline vandalism.
According to him, downstream pipeline sabotage decreased from 94 pipelines vandalized points in March 2017 to 82 in April 2017, representing a 12.77 percent reduction relative to the previous month.
He added that the April 2017 numbers also indicate substantial progress compared to corresponding period of April 2016 which recorded 214 incidents.
In terms of products available within the period, Ughamadu stated that the NNPC maintained adequate stock of over 1.2 billion litres of petrol sufficient for more than 34 days forward consumption.
He added that in the period under review, the NNPC in an effort to reduce to the barest minimum the incidences of fire outbreak in the 21 depots across the country, received bids from no fewer than 37 companies to supply six triple agent firefighting trucks for the operation of the Nigerian Pipelines and Storage Company (NPSC), one of the downstream subsidiaries of NNPC.
Furthermore, he stated that the NNPC had continued to import Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) and Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK) to supplement local refining, while the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN continues to make available foreign exchange to marketers to import AGO and ATK.
