The NDPHC announced the development in a statement issued
yesterday and signed by its Head of Communication and Public Relations, Mr.
Emmanuel Ojor.
The power company said TotalEnergies had in a letter written
to it, declared a force majeure on gas supply to Alaoji, resulting from its
NOPL Line vandalisation at KP41 Alaoma Etche Cluster on January 7, 2022.
According to the statement, the Line Block Valve at KP38 was
closed to isolate the sabotage point and depressurisation of the line, a
situation that wouls affect gas supply to Alaoji Power Plant until further
notice.
As a result of this development, it quoted TotalEnergies EP
Nigeria Limited to have stated that, “Gas supply to Alaoji Power Plant was
suspended due to this unfortunate event.”
“Preliminary investigation to determine the extent of the
damage was ongoing, and repair works shall commence as soon as feasible,” the
statement said
The NDPHC however regretted announcing the shutdown of the
plant.
The Omotosho National Independent Power Project (NIPP) was
shut down last month due to system wide curtailment of all gas shippers (gas
producers/off takers) by the Nigeria Gas Company (NGC), “to forestall the
imminent collapse of the gas grid.”
NGC had said at the time that the Trans-Forcardos Pipeline
(TFP), belonging to NGC was breached on December 17, 2021.
That breach led to the deferment of about 250mmscfd of gas
from the pipeline network, a situation that brought the network pressure to
abysmal levels, thereby triggering an emergency.
The curtailment impacted operations of NDPHC negatively with
Omotosho NIPP being shut down and gas supply to Geregu NIPP and Ihovbor NIPP
also limited, thus leading to part load or low generation from these available
power plants.
The NDPHC, however, assured all customers under its network
that the Alaoji Power Plant and others would resume power generation as soon as
gas supply was restored.