Power Generation: FG commissions 1,000 km gas pipeline

The pipeline project represents the government's determination to push enough gas to the power sector.

The Federal Government has commissioned 1,000 kilometres of major gas pipelines, with an additional 1,400km planned for construction before the end of the year.

According to a report by BusinessDay, Maikanti Baru, group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), confirmed this in Lagos at the Society of Petroleum Engineers Conference.

He said the pipeline project represents the government's determination to push enough gas to the power sector to ensure adequate generation of electricity.

A further 470km of pipelines is also under construction, as the NNPC plans to deliver 5 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day (scfd) to the domestic market by 2020.

In this time period, the corporation is planning to supply enough gas for the domestic market for power generation and other uses.

According to Baru, progress has also been made in the reduction of flared gas volumes as, "we envisage a near zero flare in the not too distant future, as adequate infrastructure and frameworks are being put in place".

He also said the corporation has identified seven critical gas development projects which can be delivered in the short and medium-term, to bridge the impending gas supply shortfall in the country.

He stressed that the government will fund these projects as it is determined to ensure there is gas support for the power sector. However, third party investors might also be invited to join.

According to him, "In the event that the Joint Ventures (JVs) or Nigerian National Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) as the case may be fail to raise the required funds, opportunities may be extended to third party investors to help finance the projects and the commitment received from various stakeholders who attended the event were quite impressive."

The country has an installed capacity of over 12,000 megawatts but can only transmit a little above 4,000 megawatts because of weak transmission lines.

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