Efforts by the Federal Government to boost electric power generation in the country may soon yield the required dividend following the sustained increase in gas supply for power generation by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.

The March 2017 edition of the monthly Financial and Operations Report of the Corporation, released in Abuja, said the average national daily gas production for the period stood at an impressive 226.918 billion cubic feet, bcf, which translates to over 7.319 million standard cubic feet of gas per day, mmscfd.

However the daily average national gas supply to gas power plants increased to 689mmscfd or the equivalent to power generation of 3056 mw.
The March 2017 figure is an improvement on the previous month’s record which stood at 582 mmscfd. The supply is also over 29 per cent higher than the corresponding supply record for March 2016.
However, pipeline sabotage in the country increased from 49 downstream pipelines vandalized points in February 2017 to 94 in March 2017. This represents over 91 per cent increase relative to the previous months despite Federal Government’s and the NNPC’s continuous engagement with the stakeholders.

Nevertheless, there is a noticeable improvement compared to corresponding period of March 2016 which posted 259 cases.
Also, in the downstream sector, NNPC has in stock, a robust inland supply of over 1.2billion litres of petrol sufficient for more than 34 days forward consumption. On Automotive Gas Oil, AGO, and Aviation Turbine Kerosene, ATK, NNPC continued to import to supplement AGO local refining and the Central Bank has released foreign exchange to marketers to import AGO and ATK.
The report notes that the inaugurated 497.2 km System 2B petroleum pipeline network which was achieved within the period under review has helped the NNPC to sustain the gale of uninterrupted supply and distribution of products throughout the country.
Only recently the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, noted that the Corporation’s re-commissioned Mosimi and Kano depots had impacted positively on highways across the Country.
Dr. Baru had stated that the two depots had relieved the impacts of long haulage of petroleum products on the roads, saving the nation of serious environmental consequences of bridging to motorists, settlements along highways and the general ecosystem in the country.
The March 2017 NNPC monthly Financial and Operations Report is the 20th edition.