President Muhammadu Buhari is considering establishment of a special security force that will be heavily equipped to protect crude oil pipelines in the country. Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo disclosed this at the weekend after inspecting oil installations at the Forcados Terminal in Delta State.
The vice president had visited the area to ascertain the collapse of the facility, which led to the recent drop in electricity supply across the country.
He said that “One of the future steps the Buhari administration could take to forestall the perpetration of vandalism, is to estab-lish a permanent pipeline security force.”
According to him, such a force if formed, “would be armed with sophisticated weapons to ensure we contain the vandalism and overhaul security.”
The permanent pipeline security force is an option currently being looked at by the Federal Government, Osinbajo said, adding that the present administration was concerned about both the loss of gas supply to power plants in the country and significant loss of potential revenue.
Recently, he said this has arisen from the damaged Forcados Export Terminal.
In this regard, the vice president called for an expedited repair of the strategic terminal operated by Shell, and the activation of an alternative process to ameliorate the gas supply deficit.
Osinbajo, who was accompanied on the facility tour by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, said Buhari was concerned about the damage done to the terminal in February and asked him to visit and assess the situation which has been responsible for the recent drop in electricity supply in the country.
“The president is equally concerned that the gas projects under the disposal of Shell meant to beef up domestic supply of gas in the country needs to be speedily completed,” he said.
Osinbajo, who also met with top officials of Shell that runs the terminal and senior officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) after they flew over the location of the terminal, told the officials that “what is going on here affects the Nigerian people and the economy,” referring to the loss of gas supply to power plants and the loss of potential foreign exchange earning arising from the inability to produce over 250,000 barrels of oil per day, due to the damage done to the terminal.
“The damage done to Forcados affects our oil earnings, but also as important is the power aspect.
It (Forcados) is a major source of gas, about 40 per cent of our gas supply is affected, leading to the problem of power supply in the country,” the vice president told Shell officials led by Country Chairperson, Mr. Osagie Okunbor, and NNPC officials led by Mr. Bello Rabiu, the Chief Operating Officer for Upstream.
The vice president noted that a few months ago, power supply in the country had peaked at an unprecedented 5000MV, but now has dropped significantly, including instances of system collapses. According to him, “I came here on the instruction of the president who is concerned about the damage done to Forcados.
I came here to see for myself and underscore the great implication for the nation’s economy. Many people don’t even know that power supply is hampered by what is going on here.” The vice president asked Shell to do “whatever else can be done and do it as expeditiously as possible,” to repair the damaged terminal.
A repair plan presented to the vice president during the visit by Shell indicated that the repair work, which is in three phases, is about concluding its first phase with expectation that the repair would be concluded in May. NNPC also presented an interim alternative plan to supply gas to the plants including trucking condensate.
The vice president expressed the concern of the Federal Government that international oil companies (IOCs) that seat on 80 per cent of gas deposits in the country have not been as forthcoming regarding gas supply to the domestic market. “Even if it is as a matter of public service,” Osinbajo said. “We are clearly suffering in terms of domestic supply.”
He cited the need for Shell to speedily complete the Bonga and Forcados/ Yokri gas projects in order to assuage the plight of the Nigerian people. According to him, “the president is particularly concerned about this outstanding gas projects.” “The damage done to Forcados terminal is the chief reason for the poor power supply that has affected the country recently.
“We went to Forcados to see for ourselves the sabotage done to our pipelines. The damage done has led to low supply of gas and most of the power plants are not functioning to maximum capacity,” Osinbajo stated.
The Bonga Gas Diversion project would provide 120mmscf/d when completed by the second quarter of this year, while the Forcados/Yokri gas project would provide 80mmscf/d at completion expected at the same timeline. There is also the Assa North/Ohaji South project, which can also provide 500mmscf/d.
Also commenting on the issue, Governor Okowa lamented that “the Forcados terminal is important to Delta State and the nation. That is where SPDC evacuates its products, and other land operations including Seplat evacuating products from there for sale. Now, all the production on land by SPDC is shortened.”
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