The nation’s economy would only begin to pick up if the marginal relief Nigerians have had in recent days as a result of slight improvement in power supply is sustained.
The economy has been in comatose with electric supply getting from bad to worse in the last three years, while a
lot of companies have collapsed as a result of the irregular power supply.
The power sector has in the last three years barely provided the necessary service on account of lack of gas, consequently, the generation level dropped from nearly 3,000 megawatts (mw) in 2007 to 1,500mw in 2009, a situation which led the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to engage in serious load-shedding across the country.
In the last few days, the generation level has peaked from 2,400mw to 3,360mw. Electricity generation at the weekend was up by 38mw, thereby bringing the total generating capacity to 3,360mw.
A break down of some power stations indicates that Egbin power plant now generate 700mw, Shiroro 430mw, Jebba 360mw, AfamVI 300mw, Sapele 165mw, Geregu 80mw, AES 130mw, Kainji 430mw, Okpai 285mw, and Afam IV 60mw.
According to industry operators, the effort of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) should be commended for making available about 512 million standard cubic feet of gas (MMscf/d) in western Niger Delta since the beginning of the month.
The production level is the highest in two years from the area. The gas goes into the domestic gas network for national power generation and manufacturing industries. Prior to this time, average gas production from SPDC’s western operations had been 300MMscf/d.
An official of PHCN who spoke to BusinessDay disclosed that the improved generation level was as result of more gas supply, noting that if more gas is supplied, there is enough capacity to absolve them at the power plants.
Mutiu Sunmonu, managing director, Shell, stated that “The latest achievement consolidates our position as Nigeria’s leading gas producer. Moreover, this has been done safely, without harm to people and the environment. We are pleased that all the gas has been used for domestic power generation and manufacturing, as these are key sectors for national economic growth.”
Shell Joint Venture achieved the record production from four gas plants - Utorogu, Oben, Sapele and Ughelli East. Sapele and Oben had been shut in since late last year because of attacks on the pipeline infrastructure, but with the repair of the pipelines this year, the two gas plants have since resumed production.
At Utorogu, SPDC Joint Venture executed engineering and production optimisation activities including capacity upgrade and focused gas wells deliverability tests, which enabled the facility to increase output and improve gas quality.
Operations manager, Land West, Chidube Nnene-Anochie, also maintained that “This feat was achieved through integrated efforts of operations/maintenance and multi-disciplinary support teams (development, wells, engineering, HSE, finance, contracting, pipelines), etc, and we are all committed to sustaining the tempo.”
