Total Builds $900m Pipeline to Supply Gas to Alaoji Power Station
Posted by: The Citizen in Business, Other News August 26, 2014

Mrs. Elisabeth Proust, MD, Total Upstream Companies in Nigeria
Hope for improvement in power supply in Nigeria has been rekindled as French oil giant, Total has stated that it has built a $900 million worth of pipeline infrastructure to supply gas from the company’s Oil Mining Lease (OML) 58 to the 964 megawatt-capacity Alaoji Power Station in Abia State.
The new Managing Director of Total Upstream Companies in Nigeria, Mrs. Elisabeth Proust, who confirmed this investment to THISDAY at the weekend, however, stated that for the investment of such magnitude to be economic in Nigeria, the price of domestic gas should be increased from its current level of $2.5 to $7 per million British Thermal Unit (BTU).
“We have invested in very huge pipeline onshore – 50 kilometres of 24-inch pipeline, starting from OML 58 to go to Imo River and to Alaoji. Here, we are already in contract with the power plant at Alaoji. This is our first customer. We will be ready to deliver the gas by 2015. So, we are now in negotiation with other industries, not power plants, to provide them with gas. My plan is that in 2017, we should produce and supply the gas through the pipeline,” she said.
Proust said it was a huge pipeline that transverse several communities, adding that the company has spent $900 million on the project.
She however, said to ensure that such project was economic, domestic gas price should be increased to between $5 and $7 per million British Thermal Unit.
According to her, the recent improvement in domestic gas price cannot make such project economic.
“To get the economy of such project, we need to have a good price. The improvement in gas price is good. But we can say that it cannot provide the economy of such pipeline project. I hope that we will achieve a better price so that we can have the economy of such investment,” she added.
The Total boss further disclosed that her company will supply gas to Alaoji at a price of $2.5, adding however, that this price is not adequate to guarantee adequate returns on the investment.
“So, we have made calculations on that and we can say that for the fiscal terms in the joint venture and production sharing contracts, we need between $5 and $7 per million BTU for the development of such facilities. If the fiscal terms change, may be, we will need more. It depends on how they change,” she explained.
She said Total had taken the risk, adding that “when you take risk, you take the reward.”
“The reward is to maintain a big affiliate in Nigeria, create employment opportunities,” she added. THISDAY

God Bless GEJ and Lovers of Development in Nigeria.

Kk..hope this wil lead 2 increase power supply..no more story for the gods

GOOD DEVELOPMENT. ALTHOUGH NO SOURCE

They want us to pay more for light bills, forgetting that election period is at hand.

Why is Nigeria ignoring the coal deposits in Enugu. Why have the FG since after the war,refused to develop our coal industry.

Coal holds the key to Nigeria overcoming her power challenge and not gas. Coal is a cheaper source of electricity,and is not subject to pipeline disturbances we experience with gas pipelines, developing the coal industry would also open up Enugu and Benue, providing jobs for the unemployed youths of Enugu and Benue,as well as improving the IGR of the two states.

Coal powered power plants provide about 76% of South Africa's power output, about 40% of those of US, and up to 70% of that of China. Even Russia generates about 16% percent of it's power needs from coal power plants, which are easier and cheaper to build.

Good news. But when will the project start supplying gas to the Alaoji power plant? 2015 or 2017? The report was not clear on that.

Is it true that Ikimi have dumped APC? God waited too long to destroy that Seed of evil doers

All those money Nigeria wasted in Ajaokuta steel complex after the war, if they were invested in the coal mines of Enugu and Benue, Nigeria would have been sufficient in power generation today.


People open threads these days, asking what the SE offer to the country, what they didn't ask was why Nigeria refused to invest in the SE coal industry,a major income earner for the defunct Eastern region, but simply allowed it to die by simply depriving it of funds. Yes, coal exports doesn't yield much as crude oil, but it still earn much to keep it viable ,not to talk about the employment opportunities it would provide.

China great industrial awakening was not crude oil or natural gas powered, it was coal powered, and at the middle of China's industrial awakening,Coal contributed over 70% of her power needs, the cheap electricity coal provides and China's cheap labour allowed China products to be comparatively cheaper than those from the west.

Oji river coal powered power plant was the major supplier of electricity to the East before the war, but the power plant died with the death of the coal industry,and industries like Nkalagu cement that were dependent on the plant's cheap electricity,died a natural death.

The FG fixation on unreliable gas powered plants,and total neglect of coal powered ones, reeks of conspiracy . To even think of the fact that they had once fiddled with the idea of nuclear energy power plants, but had never for once given thought to coal power plants makes this conspiracy more obvious.

The FG have simply sticked to it's post civil war economic sabotage of Igboland and the rest of the country is paying the price for that.

Nonybb: Is it true that Ikimi have dumped APC? God waited too long to destroy that Seed of evil doers

^^^Remember say Gods time is the best!

pazienza: All those money Nigeria wasted in Ajaokuta steel complex after the war, if they were invested in the coal mines of Enugu and Benue, Nigeria would have been sufficient in power generation today.


People open threads these days, asking what the SE offer to the country, what they didn't ask was why Nigeria refused to invest in the SE coal industry,a major income earner for the defunct Eastern region, but simply allowed it to die by simply depriving it of funds. Yes, coal exports doesn't yield much as crude oil, but it still earn much to keep it viable ,not to talk about the employment opportunities it would provide.

China great industrial awakening was not crude oil or natural gas powered, it was coal powered, and at the middle of China's industrial awakening,Coal contributed over 70% of her power needs, the cheap electricity coal provides and China's cheap labour allowed China products to be comparatively cheaper than those from the west.

Oji river coal powered power plant was the major supplier of electricity to the East before the war, but the power plant died with the death of the coal industry,and industries like Nkalagu cement that were dependent on the plant's cheap electricity,died a natural death.

^^^This is one of the reasons why i get perplexed whenever a nwafor shouts 'one Nigeria' even more than the people that have cornered most of the nations wealth to themselves, even as they conspire to hold us down!

This story of the pathetic fortunes of Coal and the Oji River power station in the South East is one of the reasons i sometimes want out of this country!

IGBOSON1:

^^^This is one of the reasons why i get perplexed whenever a nwafor shouts 'one Nigeria' even more than the people that have cornered most of the nations wealth to themselves, even as they conspire to hold us down!

This story of the pathetic fortunes of Coal and the Oji River power station in the South East is one of the reasons i sometimes want out of this country!

It's really disheartening. I was discussing with a South African friend of mine yesterday online,when i told him that i had to log off to conserve my phone battery. So our discussion diverted to the Nigeria's electricity problem, it was from him that i learnt for the first time that South Africa's impressive power generation was mainly coal derived.

I thought he was joking,so i went to google to search, my discovery made me cry. China's industrial revolution was coal powered, but some wicked people in Nigeria, decided that developing the Coal industry in the East,would be of Economic benefit to the region, and so decided not to invest in it, while they spent billions in useless Ajaokuta steel, and in Irrigation and fertilizer programmes spread accros the North.

IGBOSON1:

^^^This is one of the reasons why i get perplexed whenever a nwafor shouts 'one Nigeria' even more than the people that have cornered most of the nations wealth to themselves, even as they conspire to hold us down!

This story of the pathetic fortunes of Coal and the Oji River power station in the South East is one of the reasons i sometimes want out of this country!

Who held you down? Why do you ibos like playing the victim card? Why do you like blaming others for your own self afflicted woes?

The last time we checked, the current minister of power is professor chinedu nebo, an ibo man. The former minister of power was professor barth nnaji, another ibo man. What did they do to resuscitate the coal and oji river power stations in the southeast?

The ibos arent the only victim of marginalisation. The few political class have marginalised the entire country.

Igboson. Though i know that outright separation from Nigeria is the only long lasting solution to the problems plaguing Igboland today. But for the time being, is it possible for the entire SE governments to pull resources together,and even borrow sustainable loans to give the Coal industry a second chance?

Imagine what the power we could generate from coal would do for the hardworking boys in Aba and Nnewi.

Igboland needs an industrial revolution, we have the man power and technical expertise to achieve it, the only missing ingredient is electricity. But we sit on large amount of coal reserves,a very cheap source of power supply, why are we not making use of it?

Jakpon: Who held you down? Why do you ibos like playing the victim card? Why do you like blaming others for your own self afflicted woes?

The last time we checked, the current minister of power is professor chinedu nebo, an ibo man. The former minister of power was professor barth nnaji, another ibo man. What did they do to resuscitate the coal and oji river power stations in the southeast?

The ibos arent the only victim of marginalisation. The few political class have marginalised the entire country.

^^^Bros, there's only so much a minister can do!......Come to think of it, there's only so much a President can do when powerful forces are lined up against you in this country! The aviation sector and Princess Stella is a case in point: You saw the campaign of calumny she faced when she wanted to even out things in the sector.......a sector that had been hijacked by a cabal for decades; you saw how approval for the new terminal at AIIA Enugu was rejected at the National Assembly, and she then had to source for funds in-house (funds separate from the chinese loan approved for 4 others) to construct it! Also, you saw how they equally dug for 'dirt' on Prof Barth Nnaji and managed to force GEJs hand to ease him out of office!

You may not understand my sentiments on the issue because you're not Igbo! He who wears the shoe knows where it pinches!!

Jakpon: Who held you down? Why do you ibos like playing the victim card? Why do you like blaming others for your own self afflicted woes?

The last time we checked, the current minister of power is professor chinedu nebo, an ibo man. The former minister of power was professor barth nnaji, another ibo man. What did they do to resuscitate the coal and oji river power stations in the southeast?

The ibos arent the only victim of marginalisation. The few political class have marginalised the entire country.

The power minister is just a servant of the government,he only do the bidding of the FG. He can only make suggestions, but he dare not act without the FG approval.

The FG since after the war have continued to show disinterest in coal power plants, while being fixated on ineffcient costly gas power plants. Why is this so, if you have any reason, enlighten us,and stop wasting our time.

pazienza:


It's really disheartening. I was discussing with a South African friend of mine yesterday online,when i told him that i had to log off to conserve my phone battery. So our discussion diverted to the Nigeria's electricity problem, it was from him that i learnt for the first time that South Africa's impressive power generation was mainly coal derived.

I thought he was joking,so i went to google to search, my discovery made me cry. China's industrial revolution was coal powered, but some wicked people in Nigeria, decided that developing the Coal industry in the East,would be of Economic benefit to the region, and so decided not to invest in it, while they spent billions in useless Ajaokuta steel, and in Irrigation and fertilizer programmes spread accros the North.

It will interest you to know that some companies are about to import coal from SA.

AS a proactive measure against the lingering power supply crisis in the country, some industrialists and electricity generating companies have started initiating moves to import coal from South Africa. This is to enable them to switch over to coal-powered turbines for their respective operators.

The move was said to have been informed by the frustrations being experienced by the operators in getting gas to fuel their respective power plants.

Nigeria has been assessed to have about the largest gas reserves in the world, but the parlous supply infrastructure has compromised distribution to various plants requiring the commodity.

The nation’s coal reserves remain largely unexploited, even after the Federal Government has sold out the blocs to prospective miners.

Leading the coal-import initiative from South Africa is Dangote Cement Plc, which has already placed an initial order of 30,000 tonnes of the commodity from the continent’s second largest economy.

Already, the company has slated $250 million for power generating conversion , which would involve establishment of three plants at Dangote Cement’s facilities at Obajana in Kogi State; Gboko in Benue State; and Ibeshe in Ogun State.

The Group Managing Director of Dangote Cement, Devakupar Edwin, explained yesterday that the company had to be proactive in resolving the lingering power supply crisis in the country, as ‘‘we cannot afford to compromise the objectives of promoting value addition and job creation in Nigeria.”

Edwin stressed that ‘‘no business can survive in an atmosphere of energy crisis. If we don’t have power and fuel, our operations would become endangered.”

According to him, ‘‘Dangote Cement would be investing $250 million in coal-based power plants, due to increasing difficulties in getting gas supply to power our electricity generating plants. All our kilns will be powered by coal, with the new plants located in Obajana, Ibeshe and Gboko.

‘‘Already, we are expecting the first shipment of 30,000 coal from South Africa, to power 60 megawatt power plants, with another 30 megawatt generating facility on standby.”

Edwin, however, explained that the coal importation agenda was only scripted as a temporary measure, to forestall system collapse in their operations.

‘‘We are aware of large coal deposits in Nigeria and the allocation of blocs to prospective miners. But we have to take urgent steps to safeguard our investments in the country, more so as exploitation of the commodity has not commenced on a scale that can sustain our operations.

‘‘Currently, we don’t have either gas or black oil (low pour fuel oil) to run our machines fully. We even had to resort to importation of black oil to do our business.

‘‘We, however, have a plan to look inwards in respect of coal sourcing, as we expect the companies that have secured coal blocs to commence their respective mining operations in the country.

‘‘We had hoped that the gas infrastructure challenges would be resolved, so that normal supplies can be resumed. But the reality on the ground now is that the crisis has persisted.

‘‘The government would need to come to the aid of cement manufacturers as the operating environment is not encouraging at all. The cost of doing business is increasing. When a cement company is forced to be importing black oil to sustain production, how would it not affect its financial projection?”

Investigations by The Guardian revealed that some power generating companies (Gencos) have already started considering converting their plants to coal-fired turbines, with unabated crisis in securing gas to power their respective facilities.

Mostly affected by the gas paucity crisis are the Gencos that are located inland, which have not got the close proximity advantage to the gas supplying facilities, which are located in the Niger Delta region.
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/news/national-news/175150-nigerian-firms-others-to-import-coal-from-south-africa-for-power-generation

Interesting post from Ozonna. So Coal is still of relevance in the world energy supply, why can't the FG spend half of the money it spends in subsidizing agriculture in the north, and in her pathetic search of crude oil in lake chad, on bringing life to the coal industry.

Something is not adding up here. Someone better come and explain why the FG have no interest whatsoever in coal deposits in Enugu and Benue, or i would simply chalk it up to the FG's continued economic sabotage of the East since the war ended .

Even when FG mentions intentions to look at Coal as an energy. Shockingly, the SE region is hardly mentioned.

londoner: Even when FG mentions intentions to look at Coal as an energy. Shockingly, the SE region is hardly mentioned.

That these vampires would resort to importing coal after wasting billions of naira on fruitless ventures like Ajaokuta steel and Lake chad oil search in the North, while abandoning the coal mines in Enugu, speak volumes.

GEJ keeps working APC keeps making noise empty drums always makes the loudest noise. GEJ till 2019

I think someone is already working on it with an MOU signed about a year ago.

Nigeria could generate 30% of its electricity from coal – Jonathan Premium Times-1 year ago

The president said Nigeria is endowed with much coal.

President Goodluck Jonathan said on Monday in Abuja that the intention of his administration was to generate 30 per cent of electricity needed in the country from coal.

The President disclosed this at a one-day Workshop on the Solid Minerals Sector Development, which he presided over at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa.

The workshop was organised to attract the commitments of stakeholders to the Solid Minerals sector and make it a driver for job, growth, indutrialisation, and wealth creation.

During the event, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Coal to Power was signed for the development of Ezinmo Coal Block in Enugu and a 1000 megawatts coal power generating plant.

The MoU was signed between the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development and HTG-Pacific Energy Consortium for the development of the Ezinmo Coal Bricks.

“It is our intention that 30 per cent of our electricity generation should come from coal given the available environmentally friendly technology.

“Nigeria is endowed with abundant coal reserve of the required quality necessary for power generation and there is no reason why we should not explore the sector.

“I welcome the growing synergy between the Ministries of Mines and Steel Development and Power which is made manifest in their collaborative efforts to attract investors to coal fired oil generation opportunities.

“We expect the co-operations to continue until we get the desired destination in terms of our power needs,’’ he said.

Speaking on the MoU, the Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo said it was on the utilisation of the mining licence, granted by the Federal Government for the Ezinmo coal block.

He said the licence was granted to an indigenous company with a Chinese partner, HTG-Pacific Energy Consortium, for the exploitation and mining of the coal block at Ezinmo.

Mr. Nebo said Ezinmo was a very large coal block which ranged from Enugu State to Benue State. He said beyond mining of the coal block, the company would build 1000 megawatts power plant, which made the agreement Coal to Power all the way.

The Minister said that the Coal to Power plant would be cited in the same location with the mine, specifically, Nsukka, thereby saving the cost of transportation.

He said after the signing of the MoU, his Ministry would intensify efforts to ensure that the company gets a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) that would authorise them to build the coal-fired power plant.

The Chairman of Pacific Energy Consortium, Adedeji Adeleke, said with the signing of the MoU, the companies would commence exploration immediately.

Mr. Adeleke said the estimated investments for the developing of the coal mine and the building of the power plant would be about $3.7 billion (about N590 billion).

https://m.premiumtimesng.com/business/143045-nigeria-could-generate-30-of-its-electricity-from-coal-jonathan.html?_e_pi_=7%2CPAGE_ID10%2C1871159718

The problem is that only one out of ten MOUs signed Nigeria get to materialize. I hope this one will materialize. Provided the private company has the capacity (funds wise), I trust that Prof Nebo would be glad to do whatever it takes on the side of the govt for the project to succeed.

Sincere9gerian: I think someone is already working on it with an MOU signed about a year ago.

The problem is that only one out of ten MOUs signed Nigeria get to materialize. I hope this one will materialize. Provided the private company has the capacity (funds wise), I trust that Prof Nebo would be glad to do whatever it takes on the side of the govt for the project to succeed.

How much exactly is the FG investing in the venture?

I guess the FG will only provide enabling environment, ie licence, titles, facilitate power purchase agreement (PPA), etc. I guess that should be sufficient if the private company has the capacity and is guaranteed good returns on investment.

The job is being executed by Saipem for Total.I was part of the manpower involved in building this project:Northern Option Pipeline (NOPL) Project.It covers from Rumuji-Ibaa-Isiokpo-Omagwa-Aluu-Igwuruta-Rukpokwu-Eneka-Igbo Etche-Umuebule Etche-Odagwa Etche-Owaza.The pipeline is virtually completed but Above-Ground Installation (AGI) facilities at both Owaza and Rumuji will be completed next year,likely.The Rumuji end will receive gas from O.U.R pipeline while buyers will lay theirs from Owaza node (Abia state) to point of use. Nigeria is Working,let's be patient.It will take a little more time for delpoyment.God bless Nigeria.

Jakpon: Who held you down? Why do you ibos like playing the victim card? Why do you like blaming others for your own self afflicted woes?

The last time we checked, the current minister of power is professor chinedu nebo, an ibo man. The former minister of power was professor barth nnaji, another ibo man. What did they do to resuscitate the coal and oji river power stations in the southeast?

The ibos arent the only victim of marginalisation. The few political class have marginalised the entire country.

Was it the ajaokuta indigenes that built ajaokuta plant

this post is authentic as i work on this project presently as a Senior HSE Advisor, the pipeline is actually nearing completion as there are still some final touches being put to it and some extra installations still going on at its nodes.

The main problem with coal powered plant is supply. Yes there is coal in Enugu...but how long will it last..10 .20. or more years...if its just about less than 50 years in terms of power investment. It is not viable from an investors point of view... let the states carryout a thorough visibility study on it..
Investment is rarely an emotional issue

kmariko: The main problem with coal powered plant is supply. Yes there is coal in Enugu...but how long will it last..10 .20. or more years...if its just about less than 50 years in terms of power investment. It is not viable from an investors point of view... let the states carryout a thorough visibility study on it..
Investment is rarely an emotional issue

Sorry.
You make no sense.

Collynzo16:
Sorry.
You make no sense.

The coal supply has to last for a very long time...do we know the amount of coal we have in Enugu in relation to the "desired" power needed in the subregion taking into cognizant future growth.
So the fundamental question is how many metric tons of coal do we have in Enugu and environ