Leadership (Abuja)
Philip Nyam
24 January 2008
The group managing director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Alhaji Abubakar Yar'Adua, has said that former President Olusegun Obasanjo did not follow due process in the establishment of gas filling plants in the country even as he assured that domestic gas will be available to Nigerians in the next one week.
He also confirmed that the Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company finally received crude for pumping last Monday.
Yar'Adua, who disclosed this to the House of Representatives committee on Gas Resources yesterday, explained that the companies located in Makurdi, Ilorin, Gombe, Gusau, Ibadan and Kano, lacked the capacity and capabilities expected to run an uninterrupted gas supply.
"We expected that government should have considered equity in the location of these companies, but what we have is that the principle of the six geo-political zones was not followed. This we have made known to President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua," he said.
According to him, the NNPC was ready to take over the 49% shares of equity in the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG) as from April, saying that the matter would be ratified by the board of NNPC next week.
He disclosed that the Kaduna and Warri refineries will produce gas for domestic consumption while the gas from Port Harcourt refinery would be for export
Yar'Adua assured that the supply of domestic gas would improve as from next week with the coming on stream of Warri Refinery on Monday, adding that within the next three weeks, Kaduna Refinery would resume production.
He also told the committee that the conclusion of repairs of damaged portions of the Sanomi pipeline which supply crude to the Warri Refinery, has made it possible for the refinery to start work. Yar'Adua also disclosed that the refineries have a combined capacity of 25,000 metric tones of gas daily.
"The end to gas shortage is imminent. We have completed the repair of the 35 ruptured places on the Warri line. I can announce to you that Warri Refinery has started working from Monday, but it will take three weeks to pump crude to Kaduna. By next week, gas scarcity will be over," he assured.
The GMD explained that part of the problems of gas supply was the shortage of trucks to lift the product from the plants, saying that Nigeria needs 2,000 trucks, whereas less than 50% of the 300 functional trucks are on the road.
"We are supposed to have a minimum of 2,000 trucks to deliver gas throughout the country. that is our estimate, but we have 300 moving vehicles and out of the 300, maybe 50% of them are Tokunbo, they break down on the way two to three days," he said.
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