By Michael Eboh
Nigeria has lost a minimum of N8.04 billion
since January, to the incessant vandalism of
the country’s gas pipelines, according to the
Nigerian Gas Company, NGC, a subsidiary of
the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation, NNPC.
suspects.
Speaking at a press briefing in Warri, Delta
State, the Managing Director, NGC, Mr. Dafe
Sejebor, disclosed that since the beginning
of this year the country has witnessed an
unprecedented increase in the spate of gas
pipeline vandalism.
He added that within the last two months, it
has recorded three major attacks on its
pipeline network, mainly in the Niger Delta
region.
According to Sejebor, who was represented
by Executive Director, Services, Mr. Joseph
Olisa, “whenever these pipelines are
sabotaged, we are forced to shut down the
pipeline, and we defer a minimum of 200
million Standard Cubic Feet, SCF, of gas per
day.”
He put the average price of gas at $3 per
unit of1,000 scf, adding that it takes an
average of two weeks to repair the damage,
and an average of one week to locate the
damaged spot and mobilise personnel,
equipment and materials to site.
Also, the minimum cost for the repair of a
damaged pipeline in the Niger Delta region,
according to Sejebor, is about N160 million.
To this end, at an average price of
$3/1,000SCF, multiplied by 200 million SCF
product loss plus repairs, Nigeria may have
lost about N8.01 billion between January
and now.
This is put at 1,500 megawatts, as a
number of power plants will be deprived of
gas to generate electricity.
The NGC boss decried that the recent
increase in the spate of vandalism is
negatively affecting the economy and the
operations of the company.
He said, “The spate of vandalism of our
pipelines have been on the increase and this
is alarming. We are hurting, especially as it
has affected us negatively. It is a willful
damage and not as a result of our inability
to maintain our pipelines.”
Source: Vanguard Nigeria http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/03/nigeria-loses-n8bn-to-gas-pipeline-vandalism/

Some oil bunkers caught.Courtesy, nigeriapost.com