The deteriorating power supply in the country is about to worsen as the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Joint Venture on Tuesday shut down the Afam VI Power Plant and the Okoloma Gas Plant which supplies gas to the 624MW facility due to crude-oil theft related leaks in its Trans-Niger Pipeline that has led to failure to evacuate condensate from the gas plant. Both facilities are located in Oyibo Local Government Area of Rivers State.
This was disclosed by the Corporate Media Relations Manager of Shell, Mr. Tony Okonedo who released a statement saying that the Okoloma Gas Plant had to be shut down as it could not produce the gas without condensate, which in turn led to the shutdown of the power plant which depends on the gas plant.
The latest leak on the pipeline occurred on the 24-inch stream at Owokiri on 11 July.
The shutdown of the TNP system, which is also made up of 28-inch also affected the pumping of as much as 150, 000 barrels of oil per day, as it had to be deferred.