The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said that it had increased daily average natural gas supply to gas power plants by 123 per cent.

In a statement in Abuja on Tuesday, the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the corporation, Mr Ndu Ughamadu said the increase accrued to 730 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d) in June 2017 as against 327mmscf/d in the corresponding period in 2016.

Quoting June 2017 Monthly Financial and Operations Report released on Tuesday, Ughamadu said gas supply to power plants increased slightly by 0.13 per cent from 729mmscf/d in May 2017 to 730mmscf/d in June 2017.

The report indicated that nationwide petroleum products supply continued to record remarkable stability.

This, the report stated, followed the performance of Nigeria’s three refineries which produced between five and six million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, per day in June.

“The refineries also produced between five and six million litres of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), also known as diesel, per day in the period under review.

“The corporation has maintained seamless nationwide supply and distribution of petroleum products which guarantee stable products and queue-free filling stations across the nation,” Ughamadu quoted the report.

He said the performance of the Port Harcourt Refinery continued to improve with a boost to the midstream value chain as it inched toward sustained commercial operations.

Following interventions by the corporation in May, pump price of diesel crashed by 42 per cent nationwide.

On pipeline vandalism, Ughamadu said that the corporation recorded about 86 cases of pipeline breaks across the country in the period under review.

He said of the 86 cases, 77 were due to pipeline vandalism, representing almost 40 per cent increase relative to cases recorded in the previous month (May 2017).

He also said while the Port Harcourt-Aba line recorded the highest pipeline breaches of 55 points (66 per cent), there was also an unusual upsurge in the activities of vandals along Kaduna-Zaria.

The line, he said, witnessed 13 vandalised points during the period.

“There was also a slight decrease in national gas production, compared to previous month which stood at 227.15BCF or an average of 7,571.50 mmscfd,” the report said.

“This was despite sustaining the success recorded by its enhanced crude oil evacuation and oil lifting in June, 2017 following re-opening of Forcados Oil Terminal (FOT) on March 31.”

Ughamadu called on Nigerians to continue to support NNPC in the area of security with a view to ensuring zero vandalism of the nation’s oil and gas infrastructure. (NAN)

Update news