The hope of Nigeria achieving a significant milestone in the power sector this month has been dashed, as the July 2019 deadline for the completion of Okpai power phase 2, which would have added over 500 megawatts to the national grid, has been postponed to third quarter (Q3) of this year.
The new project will compliment the already 450 megawatts which has been in existence for over 10 years ago thereby bringing the total generating capacity of the plant to 1000megawatts.
Also another major sect back to the power sector is the inability of Nestoil Limited the company constructing the pipeline to complete its own side of the OB3 gas pipeline which completion was scheduled for the second quarter of this year also. The completion of the pipeline would have helped to move gas from the eastern Niger Delta to west where most of the gas plants suffering from lack of sufficient gas supply are located.
A number of reasons ranging from the February 2019 general election which resulted in the expatriates handling the power project going prolonged holidays because of the fear of unknown usually associated with Nigeria’s elections have been attributed to the shift in the completion deadline for the power plant.
Another reason is what one of the industry operators described as ’partner alignments’ – in this case, the company headling the execution of the project has not been able to move the way it wanted because the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) which has 60 per cent and Oando with 20 per cent stakes don’t assent to the work programme from Eni, the Italian oil giant that is executing the project on time. This situation is said to have contributed in no small measure to the delay of the project.
These coupled with community problems helped to slow down the progress.
The Okpai Phase 2 Project is part of the efforts to ramp up power supply in the country. The project which is meant to shore up the current power generation by 500 megawatts will result in increase of power generation by between 10 to 12 percent provided transmission segment is up and running.
The immediate past group managing director of the NNPC, Maikanti Baru, had said the Federal Government’s “OB3” gas pipelines project will be completed in the second quarter of 2019.
The “OB3″ project is expected to boost domestic gas supply and also address, among others, the persistent gas flaring in the country.
The NNPC said Okpai phase 2 project was being fine-tuned to expeditiously bring it on stream, adding that it would increase power generation by 10 to 12 per cent. “That is additional 500MW of power that is coming in, would ensure the transmission is up and going.
It said the project when completed would impact significantly on economic activities of the country.
“Once power is available, there will be a lot of improvement in the standard of living of Nigerians.”
Lorenzo Fiorillo, vice chairman and managing director of Nigeria Agip Oil Company/ANER said his company had a long-standing partnership with Nigeria and they would want to grow, build and develop new opportunities for the country and support the country in its energy journey.
“We want to try to change and improve the energy mix of the country and the Okpai project is a testament of this commitment of our company,” he said.
The company said the joint venture partners have been working for 15 years to implement the Okpai phase 2 project which is very important to the NNPC/NAOC JV.
“We have been able to find a way to achieve our target with this administration”.
The immediate past group managing director of the NNPC Maikanti Baru, had said the Federal Government’s “OB3” gas pipelines project will be completed in the second quarter of 2019.
The “OB3″ project is expected to boost domestic gas supply and also address, among others, the persistent gas flaring in the country.
Chukwueluka Umeh, executive director, Nestoil, in reacting to a question on why his company has not completed his portion of the pipeline construction having shifted the deadlines twice He said: “That pipeline work is still ongoing. And I seriously still welcome you to come and see it. I say to people that we have 10 percent more rainfall in Niger Delta virtually every year. It is better you see it, than you hear it. When you see the River Niger go up from a certain level in meters in the space of four weeks or five weeks. You can’t imagine it, you can only see it”
Olusola Bello
