Oil & Energy

SPDC, Journalists Partner On Pipelines’ Protection

Published

12 years ago

July 21, 2014

Crude oil theft and
pipeline vandalism have remained two notorious factors militating against the desire for high productivity and target actualization in the Nigerian Oil and gas sector; with both accounting for billions of dollars loss to the Federal Government and the International Oil Companies (IOCs), annually.
However, last Tuesday one of the oil multinationals, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) drew the attention of media men to massive encroachment on its pipeline right of way at Oyigbo Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Infact, SPDC manager in charge of pipeline operations, Wenike Princewill lamented that over one hundred such structures were recorded in Oyigbo alone.
The Shell Manager emphasized that about 40 million barrels per day were lost when the company had to shut down operation of its Gas plant in the Oyigbo area due to the enchroachment.
He expressed worry that people live in the houses within the dangerous zone to the pipeline not knowing they were sitting on time bomb. “The pipe contains hydrocharbon which is inflammable as it could result in an explosion and fire”, he said.
A retired primary school teacher, Mrs Chidinma Nkwocha who lives in Oyigbo said some 15 years ago, land in the area was very cheap and people were rushing from different parts of the state and beyond to acquire and develop.
“The pillars were there quite well but they did not care because of the low rate of parcel of land there”, Nkwocha stated disclosing that some of her friends fell prey to dubious elements who were busing selling land they don’t know.
Oyigbo is a sub-urban city close to Port Harcourt, observers said high cost of land in Port Harcourt might have made people to be attracted to Oyigbo due to the closeness especially as land was very scarce in Port Harcourt City.
However, the hard reality owners of the structures would have to face is to loose such property since owning them is illegal.
Or would they choose to remain there and get consumed with their property and family members when devil’s appointed time comes?
One worrisome revelation is that some of the property were also owned by influential persons in the government who should have desuaded others. Presumably, their presence could have encouraged the ordinary members of the society to acquire such illegal spaces.
The Ministry of Ubrban Development and relevant agencies, definitely do not have to wait anymore but to commence steps that could correct the anomalies. The so much delay in taking action or rather, in action contributed to the compounded situation.
Such inactions by the appropriate government agencies have largely encouraged enchrochment in diverse ways. Take for instance, the public roads, it took courage in the part of the present government to demolish houses built in total disregard to law guiding right of way.
The various Committees in the National Assembly, also have responsibility and should be part of the campaign.
SPDC Manager, Government and Community Relations said the company remain committed to addressing social and developmental challenges affecting the communities in which they operate and solicited for the collaboration of the media in the campaign against encroachment into the company’s facilities.
It was resolved that authorities of the company should increase their sensitization programme on the issue and also localise it so that the ordinary people in the remote areas particularly the company’s host communities could get the awareness.
Regular gingles in the mass media on the campaign message would also help in educating the people on the danger of encroaching on such dangerous zone as pipeline.
Those who sold the land that does not belong to them may as well be called to question at least to defend their actions, they may as well face prosecution.
The impact of oil theft, vandalism of pipelines and the new challenge of encroachment of pipeline right of ways are scaring enough.
Though the company denied that its divestment onshore in preference to more investment offshore may obviously be linked to the increasing challenges be develling its operations in the country.
SPDC Manager, Government and Community Relations, Fufeyin Funkakpo reiterated the commitment of the company to issues of community development stressing that loss incurred by the company in shutting down its facilities due to sabotage invariably affects the economy of the action and its capacity to increase it commitment to community development.
The Chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Rivers State, Mr. Opaka Dokubo commended SPDC for the senminar noting that it has increased their knowledge of the operations.
Dokubo who was represented by the Vice Chairman of the State NUJ, Mr. Omoni Ayo-Tamuno, particularly commended SPDC for the medical test, treatment and health lecture saying it would benefit the journalists greatly.

Chris Oluoh

Oil & Energy

Can Cheap Batteries Deliver COP31’s 35% Electrification Goal?

Published

5 days ago

November 9, 2026

The Tide

Electrification will be the major focus of the COP31 United Nations climate conference, to hold in Antalya, Türkiye, from today, November 9 to 20, 2026. The host country will invite the attending nations to sign onto a voluntary pledge to reach 35 percent electrification on a global level by 2035. J

ust a year ago, this target may have seemed overly ambitious, but now, experts say that a number of factors, including volatile oil and gas markets stemming from the war in Iran, paired with enormous advances in clean energy technologies, have put that goal within “striking distance.”

The months-long closure of the Strait of Hormuz has catalyzed the clean energy transition and the rate of electrification around the world. Before the United States and Israel began their military offensive in Iran back in February of this year, one fifth of the world’s oil and gas trade flowed through the Strait of Hormuz. Its abrupt closure therefore sent global oil and gas markets into turmoil and sent energy-importing countries around the world scrambling for alternatives, especially ones that they could produce and control on their home soil. And, just like that, renewable energy became the new face of energy security.

“Wind and solar cannot be embargoed, blockaded, or shut off by a foreign power,” David Frykman, General Partner at Stockholm-based venture capital group Norrsken, wrote in an op-ed for Fortune earlier this year. “Every terawatt-hour of domestic renewable generation is a terawatt-hour that no adversary can weaponize.”

But there is another, quieter force that has made this rapid global pivot toward renewable energies possible – the energy storage boom. Energy storage is critical to ensure grid stability in the face of rapid electrification and the increasing representation of intermittent energy sources like wind and solar power in national energy mixes. Major advances in the sector in recent years have made battery storage more affordable and more scalable than ever before – just in time for the world’s most recent bout of ‘fossilflation.’

“What’s really become a game-changer in the past two years is the rapid deployment of large-scale batteries that can hang onto ever larger amounts of power to be used throughout the day to smooth out demand and avoid overtaxing the grid,” Forbes wrote in a Monday report.

The second quarter of this year saw the United States’ largest-ever energy storage expansion, at 20.2 gigawatt-hours of additional capacity, according to a report by the Solar Energy Industries Association and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. That puts this year’s total additions at 30.8 GWh – and counting.

“Although President Trump is no fan of renewable energy or batteries, utility-scale energy storage capacity still nearly doubled to 165 GWh from 88 GWh in the first 18 months of his administration,” the Forbes article goes on to detail. “Grid operators, utilities and data center developers are all buying batteries as fast as they can to meet power demand and improve grid reliability. As a result, battery energy storage systems supplied more electricity to the grid in the year’s first eight months than in all of 2025.”

Ironically, despite his best efforts, Donald Trump is overseeing one of the United States’ most significant clean energy booms in the nation’s history as solar and wind have simply become too cheap to fail. And the United States is not alone. Buoyed by a flood of cheap solar panels and battery storage systems coming out of China, even the world’s poorest countries are experiencing clean energy revolutions.

“Some countries are pulling off stunningly fast energy transitions, adding solar so rapidly, it’s become a major source of electricity over the course of years — not decades,” reports CNN.

Pakistan has become the surprise poster child of this trend as residents install rooftop solar and batteries faster than any other market on Earth, as these systems provide electricity more cheaply and reliably than the country’s own beleaguered energy infrastructure. In addition, emerging economies including Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Morocco, Kenya, and Namibia have all overtaken the United States – the world’s largest economy – in their clean energy transitions.

By Haley Zaremba

Oil & Energy

MAN, Ministry Tackle High Electricity Costs, Erratic Supply

Published

5 days ago

November 9, 2026

The Tide

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has said it is working with the Federal Ministry of Power to address high electricity tariffs, unreliable grid supply and rising energy costs that are undermining industrial production and competitiveness in the country.

The association said the collaboration would focus on developing sustainable energy solutions for manufacturers, including renewable energy, battery storage, captive power generation and improved electricity distribution.

Speaking during the second edition of the Manufacturers Energy Security and Energy Efficiency Summit in Lagos, the President, MAN, Dr. Ifeanyi Okoye, regretted that high electricity tariffs, unreliable grid supply and heavy dependence on fossil fuels had made industrial production exceptionally difficult.

Okoye said energy expenses consumed nearly half of some factories’ operating budgets, weakening their competitiveness, increasing product prices and threatening jobs.

He said manufacturers had continued to operate their own power infrastructure despite paying for electricity from the national grid.

“When energy expenses claim nearly half of a factory’s operating budget, competitiveness evaporates, retail prices skyrocket, and jobs are placed on the line,” he said.

Okoye said the association was moving beyond advocacy to implement practical solutions through its Industrial Energy Cost Reduction and Energy Support Programme, as key partners in delivering the initiative.

According to him, the programme would promote factory-roof solar installations, battery energy storage systems, captive natural gas generation and smart energy management networks to reduce production costs and protect manufacturers from global fuel price shocks.

He, however, stressed that manufacturers needed affordable, long-term financing to undertake the energy transition.

“We cannot finance 21st-century industrial transitions with 30-day commercial bank loans at cut-throat interest rates,” Okoye said.

He said the summit would bring financial institutions, climate funds and green investors together to develop long-tenured, low-interest financing instruments, carbon credit opportunities and asset-financing

Also speaking, the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, warned industrial customers against unauthorised electricity connections.

He disclosed that investigations had uncovered about 14 industrial customers along a particular corridor who owed more than N400m in unpaid electricity charges over several years.

Tegbe said such practices deprived the electricity sector of revenue needed to sustain power supply and unfairly burdened consumers who paid their bills.

“Such conduct deprives the sector of revenue that we need to sustain the supply, and unfairly burdens consumers who pay honestly,” Tegbe said.

The minister vowed to recover the outstanding charges and hold those responsible accountable, urging MAN to encourage its members to maintain lawful electricity connections and comply with applicable regulations.

Tegbe acknowledged that manufacturers continued to struggle with electricity interruptions, poor power quality, vandalism and electricity theft, adding that the government was directing investments towards addressing the underlying problems.

Speaking on behalf of manufacturers, the MAN South-East Chairman, Ada Chukwudozie, said energy had become a question of survival and competitiveness for Nigerian manufacturers.

She said manufacturers were increasingly financing and managing their own electricity infrastructure while struggling with rising production costs and limited access to capital.

“We are effectively running a second power system paid for by ourselves, besides the grid we also pay for. And that is why for the Nigerian manufacturer, energy is no longer simply an operational issue. It is a question of survival and competitiveness,” Chukwudozie said.

She explained that unreliable electricity supply forced manufacturers to make difficult choices between purchasing energy and raw materials, maintaining equipment and paying workers.

The regulator added that manufacturers could strengthen their competitiveness by adopting cleaner energy sources as international markets increasingly imposed environmental and carbon-related requirements on products and supply chains.

Oil & Energy

Reps Panel Dismisses Petition Against NIPCO gas Licence

Published

5 days ago

November 9, 2026

The Tide

The House of Representatives has dismissed a petition seeking the cancellation of gas distribution licences awarded to NIPCO Plc, ruling that the petitioners failed to provide credible evidence to substantiate their allegations.

The decision followed a review by the House Sub-Committee on the Petition concerning NIPCO Plc, which rejected the complaint filed by the Nigerian Energy Security Watch Group (NESWG) for lacking substance and evidential support.

The petition had called for an investigation into, and the suspension and cancellation of, gas distribution licences issued by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to NIPCO for Lagos, Ogun, Oyo and Osun states, as well as the Lagos and Lekki Free Trade Zones.

Announcing the decision last Thursday, the Chairman of the Sub-Committee, Peter Aniekwe, said the petitioners relied on hearsay and failed to establish any wrongdoing in the licensing process.

“At its sitting today, the Sub-Committee resolved not to proceed with the investigation, and the petition is accordingly dismissed,” Aniekwe said.

The committee, which also includes Dahaltu Shehu, was constituted in October to examine the petition. It was granted an additional 14 days on October 26 to conclude its assignment.

Aniekwe said the issuance and regulation of gas distribution licences were statutory responsibilities of the NMDPRA under the Petroleum Industry Act, while stressing that the National Assembly would continue to exercise oversight over the process.

He disclosed that the regulator had committed to completing and rolling out gas distribution licensing in the fourth quarter of 2026, adding that the committee would monitor the implementation.

“Nigerians deserve a gas market that is open, competitive and safe, and investors deserve rules that are clear and stable,” he said.

The lawmaker reaffirmed the House’s commitment to considering petitions from individuals and organisations with genuine concerns about the petroleum sector, saying “each complaint would be assessed on its merits”.