Pipeline bombings ‘shut Ibese, Ewekoro cement plants’

Production of cement in Ibese and Ewekoro has been stalled by the attack on oil installations in the Warri-South local government area of Delta state last week.

The federal government is also losing about N470 million on a daily basis in the aftermath of the bombings.

The ministry of works, power and housing disclosed these on Tuesday.

The ministry expressed regret over the incident, which it said occurred at a time it was planning to improve the services being rendered to Nigerians.

“The sabotaged gas pipeline which contributes to the Escravos Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS) has led to a loss of 160mmsfcd of gas daily,” read a statement issued by Hakeem Bello, special adviser on communications to the minister of power, works and housing.

“At a cost of $2.50 per thousand scf, this loss means about $400,000 loss to the country on a daily basis (N78,800,000 daily) in gas volume. This is in addition to losses to be incurred daily from affected Power generation ($1,988,223 or N391,680,000 daily).

“The total daily loss to the country is therefore estimated at N470,479,931. Repairs of the damaged pipeline is estimated as costing ($609,137 or N120,000.000).

“The real sector of the economy has also been counting its losses as some cement companies around Olorunsogo like Ewekoro and Ibese are also affected.

“The latest incident has occurred just as the federal government through the ministry of power, works and housing and the ministry of petroleum resources along with allied agencies has been making concerted efforts to improve gas supplies to the power plants.

“Such efforts led to previously offline plants like Ihovbor and Sapele coming back online and the subsequent output  making up for the loss in power. The pipelines are being actively monitored for further attacks or other unforeseen impacts.

“Available records show that six incidences of vandalism from December 2014 to February 2015 which affected the Trans Forcados Pipeline (at Oben, Sapele, Oredo ) and Escravos Lagos Pipeline System (CNL) led to a loss of 1,100 MMScfd.

“According to industry experts, a loss of 200 MMscd is equivalent to a Power reduction of 700MW.

“While the industry is currently generating about 4120Mwh/h on average (as at 17/01/2016), it is without doubt that performance would have been better without the additional setback caused by the weekend’s incident.”

The statement revealed that in response to the attack, the NNPC would form a committee with the police, JTF (which includes army, airfoce and navy) and also community vigilante groups, “who have been tasked with the responsibility of securing these pipelines”