18 December 2009
Lagos — Nigeria's Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) export has suffered yet another major setback as Shell Petro-leum Development Company (SPDC) has announced the shut down of its Soku Gas Plant in Rivers State, exactly two months after the plant resumed operations.
The gas plant, which has an installed capacity of 1.1bcf/day and 30kb/d condensate, had been shut down for 11 months following the vandalisation of its pipeline, but was reopened on October 15 this year after the company completed repairs.
The Federal Government reportedly lost over $180 million LNG revenue monthly following the 11-month closure, as the plant accounts for 40 per cent of the gas need of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) plant, which supplies 10 per cent of the world's liquefied natural gas. Shell's Corporate Media Relations Manager, Mr. Tony Okonedo, confirmed in a statement yesterday that the plant had been shut down owing to a leak on the gas line.
He explained that the line that is currently affected is different from the one that was repaired recently. The statement read: "The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) shut down the Soku Gas Plant on December 15, 2009 as a safety measure, after a leak was reported on a pipeline that conveys gas from the facility to NLNG plant at Bonny. The action will ensure the line is de-pressurised to enable a project team to investigate the cause of the leak and carry out repairs. "SPDC confirmed the leak on December 15, 2009.
The line is in remote area, and access control measures have been put in place. NLNG and all relevant government agencies have been informed of the leak. Soku Gas Plant resumed operations on October 15, 2009 after the repair of a pipeline damaged by condensate thieves, and completion of a subsequent spiking project. The line that is currently affected is different from the one that was repaired. Soku Gas Plant has an installed capacity of 1.1bcf/day and 30kb/d condensate." The plant had been shut down several times since last year owing to being vandalised of its feeder pipeline by suspected militants who drilled holes on the pipelines to steal condensates. Owing to the closure of the plant for almost one year, Nigeria's NLNG export suffered a lot of setbacks, resulting in the total revenue loss of about $1.2 billion.
An unnamed industry source had in the wake of the frequent closures disclosed that Nigeria had lost 80 LNG cargoes worth $15 million each to the shut down of the plant. He was quoted as saying that NLNG Limited had been operating at only 50 per cent capacity since the feeder plant was closed.
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200912180255.html
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