Electricity supply to the Aba Ringfence covering nine of the 17 local government areas (LGAs) in Abia State declined by 40% at the weekend following an attack on the oil pipelines that support the delivery of gas to the 188 megawatt Geometric Power Plant resumed fully yesterday afternoon, Tuesday, January 21, 2025.

This is a result of the emergency repair of the damaged portion of the pipeline, according to the Aba Power Managing Director, Ugo Opiegbe, who spoke to newsmen on the phone Tuesday evening.

"Heirs Energies, the operator of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPL) ?Heirs Energies Joint Venture on the Oil Mining Licence (OML) 17, worked extremely hard to restore gas supplies", Opiegbe stated.

The Aba Power MD, however, disclosed that there would be a decline in power supply tomorrow for 10 hours because of a scheduled reduction in gas pressure to enable emergency repairs to an oil pipeline.

Engr Vincent Ogbonna Chukwueke, a gas consultant in Lagos who used to be a senior manager with The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), explained that the gas reduction owes to the discovery of an "illegal connection on the operated TransNiger Gas Pipeline (TNP) that stretches from Egbema in Imo State through Rivers states and terminates at Bonny Terminal". He further clarified that when the oil pipelines are put out of operation due to such interference, liquids that come out during gas processing and are normally evacuated through the oil pipeline get stranded, leading to the shutdown of the gas facilities.

It is common for thieves searching for crude oil and petroleum products to break pipelines in oil-bearing areas because crude oil and gas pipelines are laid side by side, making it difficult for the vandals to differentiate them.

Engr Chukwueke expressed optimism that the scheduled reduction in power supply to parts of the Aba Ringfence tomorrow may not last up to 10 hours because of the insistence by the Geometric Power Group that all the parties involved "in the repairs do everything humanly possible to provide the Aba people with electricity, after four days of reduced electricity supply which made customers unhappy, having enjoyed 31 days of uninterrupted power supply".

The Aba people were celebrating one month of uninterrupted electricity when a sudden drastic decline in gas pressure was announced, forcing the Geometric Power Plant to shut down its General Electric (GE).

Update news