Blackout: NNPC Accuses TCN, Others Of Sabotage

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has accused the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and Electricity Distribution Companies (Discos) across the nation of frustrating stable supply in the country.
The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Maikanti Baru, made the accusation Thursday at the Oloibiri Lecture Series and Energy Forum which was organized by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), in Abuja.
The NNPC boss noted that Nigeria currently had enough gas to generate at least 4,800 megawatts (MW) of electricity and 6,000 megawatts by second quarter of the year.
He said Nigeria was currently producing an average of 8.0 billion Standard Cubic Feet (SCFD) per day of gas, stressing that about 1.3 billion SCFD was utilized for domestic consumption, 3.5 billion SCFD for export, 2.5 billion SCFD for reinjection fuel gas use, while about 700 million SCFD was flared.
“As we speak today, there is enough to generate about 4,800MW and 6,000MW by second quarter 2017 based on our gas supply plan.
“But the power sector is presently struggling to evacuate 4,500mw power due to Discos’ incessant rejection of allocated load and transmission line constraints”.
He explained further that despite the challenging environment it operates, the corporation was committed to ensuring adequate gas supply to meet the nation’s industrial growth.
In his contribution, the President of Nigerian Gas Association, Mr Dada Thomas, lamented that the country had not been able to harness  gas resources optimally for domestic use.
Thomas who is also the Managing Director of Frontier Oil Limited, regretted that Nigeria was using little amount of her gas with the bulk of if being used by the power plants.
He said that the power value chain is poorly managed stressing that the situation was threatening to bankrupt the system.