Restates commitment to domestic gas supplyShell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) has alerted Nigerians to get prepared for another round of imminent black-outs, following the temporary closure of its Sapele and Oben gas plants, as part of the re-commissioning of the Trans Forcados Pipeline (TFP) which has now been repaired following numerous incidents of sabotage. SPDC managing director and country chair, Shell Nigeria, Mutiu Sunmonu said: "Recent sabotage incidents have resulted in damage to the TFP and we have been unable to evacuate the condensate that is produced with the gas through this pipeline." He added, "Accordingly, we resorted to temporary evacuation and storage at the Warri Refinery for which we are most grateful for the understanding and responsiveness of NNPC. In the absence of this, we would have had no alternative than to shut down the gas plants until the damaged liquids evacuation pipeline is recommissioned."Although the blackout is expected to be a temporary one, Sunmonu nonetheless, assured that his company "is totally committed to supplying gas for power generation as has been the case for a very long time, and we have delayed the shut down in order to minimise the impact it will have". SPDC Joint Venture has the capacity to supply about 500 million standard cubic feet per day of gas into the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System, all things being equal. It recently completed repairs on the latest sabotage leaks, and is now ready to recommission the Trans Forcados Pipeline. Sunmonu added: "We deeply regret the inconvenience any temporary shutdown might cause but it is absolutely necessary that we repair damaged facilities and bring them to safe and normal operations as quickly as possible. We sincerely thank NNPC for their support in condensate handling in the past months. "Damage to crucial facilities such as the TFP - caused either by oil thieves or other acts – has huge impact on several stakeholders. The pipeline is responsible for the delivery of significant oil and condensate production from SPDC JV as well as Pan Ocean. "SPDC is the single biggest supplier of domestic gas and we remain committed to doing our utmost to ensure adequate supplies despite the frequent interruptions and huge costs that damage such as these causes." SPDC Joint Venture pioneered gas supply to industries in Nigeria in the 1960s, and currently supplies over 75 per cent of the domestic gas for power and other industries in Nigeria. SPDC-JV also owns and operates the 650MW-power plant at Afam, which represents over 20 per cent of current national power supply.
Source: Black out imminent as Shell announces temporary closure of gas plants (http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9180:black-out-imminent-as-shell-announces-temporary-closure-of-gas-plants&catid=85:national&Itemid=340)