Uche Usim, Abuja
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Sunday disclosed that it recorded a 94 per cent spike in the cases of wilful hacking and destruction of its pipelines across the country last November.
The information, which fingered oil thieves as culprits, was contained in the 53rd edition of the NNPC Monthly Financial and Operations Report (MFOR).
According to the report, 68 pipeline points were vandalised, representing about 94 per cent increase from the 35 points that were breached in October 2019.
The report added that out of the vandalised points, 15 failed to be welded while only two pipeline points were ruptured.
A breakdown of the breach indicated that the Mosimi-Ibadan axis accounted for 31 per cent of the breaks, Atlas Cove-Mosimi network witnessed 19 per cent, while Ibadan-Ilorin and other routes accounted for 15 per cent and 35 per cent respectively.
The MFOR noted that NNPC, in collaboration with the local communities and other stakeholders, would continuously strive to reduce and eventually eliminate this menace through effective collaboration.
The report also disclosed that the daily average natural gas supply to gas-powered plants in November last year increased by 16.53 per cent to 645mmscfd, equivalent to power generation of 2,178MW.
Comparatively, the October 2019 gas supply to power averaged 553mmscfd to generate 2,050 MW, a release yesterday in Abuja by NNPC Acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Samson Makoji, has said.
National gas production in November 2019 stood at 228.65 billion cubic feet (BCF), translating to an average daily production of 7,621.68 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd).
From November 2018 to November 2019, a total of 3,091.24 BCF of gas was produced, representing an average daily production of 7,882.27mmscfd during the period, according to the report.
A period-to-date Production from Joint Ventures (JVs), Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) and Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) contributed about 69.5 per cent, 21.06 per cent and 9.44 per cent respectively to the total national gas production.
Out of the total volume of gas supplied in November 2019, 137.02BCF of gas was commercialised, consisting of 35.29BCF and 101.73BCF for the domestic and export market respectively.
This translates to a total supply of 1,176.40mmscfd of gas to the domestic market and 3,391.04mmscfd of gas supplied to the export market for the month, implyingthat 59.91 per cent of the average daily gas produced was commercialized, while the balance of 40.09 per cent was re-injected, used as upstream fuel gas or flared.
Gas flare rate was 8.29 per cent for the month under review, i.e. 632.37mmscfd, compared with an average gas flare rate of 8.80 per cent, i.e. 692.97mmscfd for the period November 2018 to November 2019.