Lagos — Following the completion of repair of the Trans Forcados Pipeline (TFP) after the incidents of numerous incidents of sabotage, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) said it had temporarily closed down Sapele and Oben gas plants in Delta State.

Shell's Corporate Media Relations Manager, Mr. Tony Okonedo, said in a statement yesterday that the temporary closure was part of the re-commissioning of the Trans Forcados Pipeline (TFP).He also quoted the Managing Director of SPDC and Country Chair, Shell Nigeria, Mr. Mutiu Sunmonu, as saying that the oil giant was "totally committed to supplying gas for power generation as has been the case for a very long time, and we have delayed the shut down in order to minimise the impact it will have." He stated further: "However, recent sabotage incidents have resulted in damage to the TFP and we have been unable to evacuate the condensate that is produced with the gas through this pipeline.

"Accordingly, we resorted to temporary evacuation and storage at the Warri Refinery for which we are most grateful for the understanding and responsiveness of NNPC. In the absence of this, we would have had no alternative than to shut down the gas plants until the damaged liquids evacuation pipeline is re-commissioned," he said.

Sunmonu also regretted the inconvenience any temporary shutdown might cause, adding that it is absolutely necessary that the company repair damaged facilities and bring them to safe and normal operations as quickly as possible.He thanked the NNPC for their support in condensate handling in the past months. "Damage to crucial facilities such as the TFP - caused either by oil thieves or other acts - has huge impact on several stakeholders.

The pipeline is responsible for the delivery of significant oil and condensate production from SPDC JV as well as Pan Ocean. SPDC is the single biggest supplier of domestic gas and we remain committed to doing our utmost to ensure adequate supplies despite the frequent interruptions and huge costs that damage such as this causes," Sunmonu added. The SPDC Joint Venture has the capacity to supply about 500 million standard cubic feet per day of gas into the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System, all things being equal. SPDC Joint Venture pioneered gas supply to industries in Nigeria in the 1960s, and currently supplies over 75per cent of the domestic gas for power and other industries in Nigeria.

SPDC-JV also owns and operates the 650MW-power plant at Afam, which represents over 20 per cent of current national power supply.SPDC had earlier threatened that it might be forced to shut down its four gas plants in Utorogu, Ughelli ,Oben and Sapele on account of its inability to evacuate wet condensate. Shell, a major supplier of gas to the nation's thermal generating plants was said to have written to Ministers of Petroleum Resources and Power, alerting them of a further threat to gas supply situation if wet condensate estimated at 472, 000 barrels was not quickly evacuated from its facilities.The company had explained that evacuation of the wet condensate would create room for sustainable production and supply of gas to the domestic market including the power stations. "The Implication of lack of gas supply to the nation's thermal plants especially in Egbin,Omotosho,Geregu,Olorunsogo,sapele and Delta is that Nigerians will be starved of electricity", Shell said.