NNPC records 94% increase in pipeline vandalism

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says it recorded 94 percent increase in pipeline vandalism across the country in November.

This is contained in the 53rd edition of the NNPC’s monthly financial and operations report (MFOR) released in Abuja on Sunday.

In a statement, Samson Makoji, acting general manager, group public affairs division of the NNPC, said the report showed 68 pipeline points were vandalised, representing about 94 percent increase from the 35 points that were breached in October 2019.

He said out of the vandalised points, 15 were not welded and that only two pipeline points were ruptured.

“A breakdown of the breach indicated that the Mosimi-Ibadan axis accounted for 31 percent of the breaks, Atlas Cove-Mosimi network witnessed 19 percent, while Ibadan-Ilorin and other routes accounted for 15 percent and 35 percent respectively,” Makoji said.

“The MFOR noted that NNPC, in collaboration with the local communities and other stakeholders, would continuously strive to reduce and eventually eliminate this menace through effective collaboration.”

He said the daily average natural gas supply to gas-powered plants increased by 16.53 percent from 553 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) in October to 645 mmscfd in November, equivalent to power generation of 2,178 megawatts (MW).

“National gas production in November 2019 stood at 228.65 billion Cubic Feet (BCF), translating to an average daily production of 7,621.68 Million Standard Cubic Feet per day (mmscfd). For the period November 2018 to November 2019, a total of 3,091.24BCF of gas was produced, representing an average daily production of 7,882.27mmscfd during the period,” he said.

“A period-to-date Production from Joint Ventures (JVs), Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) and Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) contributed about 69.50 per cent, 21.06 per cent and 9.44 per cent respectively to the total national gas production. Out of the total volume of gas supplied in November 2019, 137.02BCF of gas was commercialized, consisting of 35.29BCF and 101.73BCF for the domestic and export market respectively.

“This translates to a total supply of 1,176.40mmscfd of gas to the domestic market and 3,391.04mmscfd of gas supplied to the export market for the month, implying that 59.91 per cent of the average daily gas produced was commercialized, while the balance of 40.09 per cent was re-injected, used as upstream fuel gas or flared.

“Gas flare rate was 8.29 per cent for the month under review, i.e. 632.37mmscfd, compared with an average gas flare rate of 8.80 per cent, i.e. 692.97mmscfd for the period November 2018 to November 2019.

“An export sale of crude oil and gas of $504.44 million was recorded in November 2019; indicating an increase of 4.39 per cent compared to the previous month. According to the November report, crude oil export sales contributed $383.89 million (76.10 per cent) of the dollar transactions compared with $396.94 million contribution in the previous month; while the export gas sales amounted to $120.55 million in the month. The November 2018 to November 2019 Crude Oil and Gas transactions indicated that crude oil & gas worth $5.46 billion was exported.”