Yemisi Izuora
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has attributed the drop in pipeline vandalisation to the extensive engagement with oil and gas community stakeholders by the Federal Government and the Corporation, NNPC. It said the country has attained 12.77 percent reduction in downstream pipeline vandalism.
According to the April 2017 NNPC Financial and Operations report, downstream pipeline sabotage decreased from 94 pipelines vandalised points in March 2017 to 82 in April 2017, representing a 12.77 percent reduction relative to the previous month. The April 2017 numbers also indicate substantial progress compared to corresponding period of April 2016 which recorded 214 incidents.
In terms of products availability within the period, the Corporation maintained adequate stock of over 1.2 billion litres of petrol sufficient for more than 34 days forward consumption.
It was also recorded that during the period, the NNPC in an effort to reduce to the barest minimum the incidences of fire outbreak in the 21 depots across the country, received bids from no fewer than 37 companies to supply six triple agent firefighting trucks for the operation of the Nigerian Pipelines and Storage Company (NPSC), one of the downstream subsidiaries of NNPC.
The report noted that NNPC has continued to import Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) and Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK) to supplement local refining, while the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN continues to make available foreign exchange to marketers to import AGO and ATK.
The April 2017 report which is the 21st edition of the NNPC Financial and Operations report also noted that average national daily gas production stood at 242.32 Billion Cubic Feet, BCF or an average of 8,077.19 Million Standard Cubic feet per day, representing 6.79 percent increase relative to the previous month.
Comparatively, the daily average natural gas supply to gas power plants slightly decreased to 672mmscfd (or equivalent to power generation of 2,787 MW in April 2017) relative to 689mmscfd recorded in last month. However, this supply is also 22.85 percent higher than the corresponding supply recorded in April 2016 of 547mmscfd, the report stated.