Tuesday’s
attack on Chevron’s gas line by militants in the Niger Delta has affected the
flow of gas to some power plants, leading to a loss of about 500 to 600
megawatts of electricity, our correspondent has learnt.
A
source at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation told our correspondent
that it was one of the lines transporting untreated gas from the fields to the
Escravos gas plant that was attacked and not the export terminal line, as
claimed by the militants.
The
NNPC source said, “This is going to affect power supply; the Chevron gas plant
won’t be able to produce as much gas as it should as from Wednesday.
“But the good thing is that Forcados
is back, even though not fully. So, I expect that with Forcados being back,
some of the gas plants will be back and this may neutralise the impact of the
latest attack. So, there may be no serious noticeable drop in power supply if
Forcados comes back fully by this weekend.”
The
Niger Delta Avengers had on Tuesday claimed that it attacked an export line
operated by Chevron Nigeria Limited at Escravos in the Warri South West Council
Area of Delta State.
It
was the first attack by the militant group on an oil facility since it
announced a ceasefire and nominated the Chief Edwin Clark-led Pan Niger Delta
Group to hold talks on its behalf with the Federal Government.
The
NDA, in a statement signed by its spokesman, Mudoch Agbinibo, warned
multinational oil companies to stop repairs on any facility earlier attacked by
its strike force.
The
statement read, “Today at about 3:45am, our strike team 06 took down Chevron’s
Escravos export pipeline at Escravos offshore. This action is to further warn
all the IOCs that when we warn that there should be no repairs pending
negotiation/dialogue with the people of the Niger Delta, it means there should
be no repairs.”
Culled
from Punch
