30012018 - 2019: No alternative to Buhari, says el-Rufai

24—Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2018
11 DISCOs reject 18,648.66mw of electricity in 14 days
•as TCN transmits 57, 667mw to 11 DISCOs
By Prince Okafor
DESPITE
several
promises made by the
Federal Government to ensure
total evacuation of generated
power to consumers, Nigerians are
yet to see any development, as the
nation’s 11 Distribution
Companies, DISCOs rejected 18,
648.66 megawatts (mw) of
electricity in the first two week of
2018.
Vanguard investigation shows
that, Ikeja Distribution
Companies, IKEDC, topped the
list of the DISCOs that rejected
electricity within the period under
review, with a total of 3,557mw,
followed by Eko DISCO,
2,745.5mw, and Ibadan DISCO,
with a total of 2,192.5mw.
Others include: Abuja DISCO,
1,885.2mw, Enugu DISCO,
1,690mw, Kaduna DISCO,
1,533mw, Benin DISCO, 1,330mw,
Kano, DISCO, 1,295mw, Jos,
1,086mw, Port Harcourt DISCO,
753mw, and Yola DISCO, 612mw.
It was also gathered that a total
of 5,689.5mw of electricity was
rejected by the 11 DISCOs from
January 1 to 7, 2018, while a total
of 12,959.2mw was un-utilized
between January 8 and 14, 2018.
Findings also show that a total of
57,667mw of electricity was
transmitted to the 11 DISCOs from
the national grid allocation by the
Transmission Company of
Nigeria, TCN.
Milestones in the
power sector
In a report obtained from the
TCN, IKEDC, has the highest
allocation which totalled at
8,540mw, followed closely by
IBEDC, at 7,328mw, next to
EKEDC at 7,013mw.
Others include: ABEDC,
6,682.5mw, EEDC, 5,083mw,
KEDCO, 4,283MW, PHEDC,
4,002mw, Kaduna Electric,
3,908mw, JEDC, 3,100mw, BEDC,
2,324mw and YEDC, 1,999mw.
The report also noted that the
daily estimate of power requested
by DISCOs for the period under
review, averaged 50,968mw. A
total of 8,797mw was allocated to
IKEDC, followed by IBEDC at
5,898mw, 5,598mw for ABEDC,
amongst others. Despite
57,667mw of electricity that was
transmitted to the 11 DISCOs from
the national grid by TCN, only 40,
045mw of power was accepted by
the DISCOs, with IBEDC
accepting the most at 5,226mw
followed IKEDC, 4,983mw.
The Minister of Power, Works
and Housing, Mr. Babatunde
Fashola has said that there is
currently 2000 megawatts (MW)
of electricity that could be
generated and sent to
manufacturing bases across
Nigeria but are not being utilised
because manufacturers have not
shown interests to take up this idle
volume of electricity.
Fashola, stated that the country
had recorded some milestones in
its power sector in the last year,
and would like to improve on them
in 2018. The Minister noted that
while power generation and
transmission capacities of the
country had grown to 7,000MW
respectively, distribution had only
inched up to 5,000MW, leaving a
balance of 2,000MW unused
which could be channelled to the
industrial bases of the country.
He said that the government
would want manufacturing outfits
and clusters in the country to
indicate their willingness and
where they want the excess power
to be channelled to them for
consumption.
Manufacturers in the country
had frequently complained of poor
electricity supplies and rising cost
of independently providing the
electricity they need to undertake
their operations, while the
government in 2017 approved a
regulation for eligibility customers,
thus paving the way for heavy
power users to enter into contracts
for direct power purchases with the
generation companies
(GENCOs).
According to the Minister, “We
are also putting together a policy
position to help expand the
distribution network of the
DISCOs and use this to distribute
the 2,000MW that is currently
available but cannot be distributed.
“I also use the opportunity to call
out to manufacturers to let us know
where they are, how much power
they need, and how we can
connect you because we have
2000MW of undistributed power.”
System Collapse
Nigerian LNG cargo to arrive Portugal tomorrow
By Prince Okafor & Ojhe
Efe-Fashe
Acargo of liquefied natural
gas loaded at the Nigerian
Liquefied Natural Gas, NLNG,
facility on Bonny Island is currently
on its way to Portugal.
According to the shipping data
provided by the port of Sines, NLNG
carrier LNG River Niger with the
capacity to transport 141,000 cubic
meters of the chilled fuel is
scheduled to arrive at the REN's
Sines LNG terminal on January 31.
The vessel, built by the South
Korean shipyard Hyundai Heavy
Industries in 2006 is owned by a
Nigeria LNG unit, Bonny Gas
Transport (BGT), and is currently
on its way in the Atlantic, off the
coast of Liberia.
The export facility on Bonny
Island has the capacity to produce
22 million tons of LNG per year
while the Sines LNG terminal on
Portugal's Atlantic coast has the
nominal capacity to handle 5.26
billion cubic meters per year.
Meanwhile, the Vice-President of
National Liquefied Petroleum Gas
Association, NLPGA, Mr. Nuhu
Yakubu, has said the association
plans to improve the availabiity of
Meanwhile, the Transmission
Company of Nigeria (TCN) on
January 2, 2018 said that a fire
incident on the gas pipeline
supplying six generation
companies (GENCOs) in the
western part of Nigeria triggered
a sudden collapse of the grid. The
grid was restored afterwards but
the six GENCOs had their gas
supply cut off and had to shut
down. The GENCOs’ operational
output of 1,143MW as at when the
•as NLPGA plans to ease discharge burdens
LPG to Nigerians and subsequent
means of reducing traffic at the
Lagos Port terminal.
He also assured Nigerians to
expect new LPG terminals later in
the year to ease the burden of
discharging the product.
"In 2018, I am sure there will be
more activities and more terminals
to take the pressure away from
Apapa. The Apapa congestion is a
challenge to the industry. More
terminals are coming up. Even if it
was not an issue of the logistics in
Apapa alone, all the pressure in
one axis of Nigeria alone is not
going to help anyway so there is
need for more terminals.
"We believe that in the South-East,
South-South region of Nigeria,
there are a few terminals that are
matured and they will be opening
doors to the public anytime soon."
He further stated that the
Petroleum Products Marketing
Company, PPMC is expanding its
terminals, while the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation,
NNPC, has started reactivation of
inland terminals.
He said that more bottling plants
have sprung up in recent time,
adding, "The ones that were idle
Source: Vanguard Energy Database
fire incident occurred was lost. The
affected GENCOs include
1,320MW Egbin and 60MW
Paras NIPP, in Lagos State;
676MW Olorunsogo NIPP and
338MW Olorunsogo in Ogun
State. The others are 450MW
Omotosho NIPP and 338MW
Omotosho in Ondo State.
Regrettably, 10 days after the
Escravos Lagos Pipeline System,
ELPS was burnt by bush fire and
restored, The Nigeria National
Petroleum Corporation, NNPC,
before have been reactivated, skid
plans have come up, not to even
mention the road tankers which
are a critical component of the
value chain."
He acknowledged that as at 2007
there were less than 100 LPG
tankers in Nigeria but as at the last
count during the third quarter of
2017, the number of road tankers
in Nigeria is in excess of a
thousand.
"There's been a phenomenal
growth in LPG throughout the
entire value chain as with the
demand as well. You can imagine
from a mere 700 metric tonnes per
annum grow demand number as
at 2007 to 10 years down the line
is now about 600,000 metric
tonnes.
"There's no industry that has
enjoyed such quantum of growth
as NLPG, but we have to manage
the fallout of this quantum growth
so that we don't experience any
incidence."
"For the number of LPG plans
that has been rolled out in the last
three to four years alone and
incidences that have accord as a
result, it doesn't even come close
to incidences you have heard with
the other flaws so to that extent."
reported that the same pipeline has
been ruptured again by an
explosion.
A statement by its spokesman,
Ndu Ughamadu, said the fresh
incidence occurred along
Egbokodo-Omadino, in Warri
South Local Government Area of
Delta State.
NNPC said its Group Managing
Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, has
directed that repair works should
be executed immediately on the
pipeline.
Eni sees East
Med as key to
diversifying
Europe’s gas
imports
G
AS projects in east
Mediterranean
countries such as Egypt,
Cyprus and Israel will be key
to help Europe diversify its gas
imports as output in the North
Sea is dropping and Russian
supplies are rising.
The Chief Executive Officer,
Eni, Claudio Descalzi said
Egypt could play the most
crucial role in gas exports
thanks to existing infrastructure
and could become a hub
shipping as much as 20 billion
cubic metres of gas annually in
a few years.
He also said Eni wanted to
expand in Algeria, including
offshore fields, while field
development terms needed to
improve in Iran for the
company to be lured back.
Eni S.p.A. is an Italian
multinational oil and gas
company headquartered in
Rome. the company has
operations in 79 countries
across the world.