Gas Pipeline Fire Causes Nigeria’s Electricity Grid to Collapse Generation

According to the Ministry Of Power, Works and Housing, a sudden loss of power generation on Tuesday night, which led to a total blackout across the country, occurred following a reported fire incident on a gas pipeline in Edo State, Channels TV reports.

“Regrettably, after a sustained period of increasing production and distribution of power since September 2017 to date, the Nigerian Gas Processing and Transportation Company Ltd (NGPTC) has reported a fire incident on its Escravos Lagos Pipeline System near Okada, Edo State on Tuesday, January 2, 2018,” the ministry said.

This led to the shutdown of the pipeline supplying gas to Egbin 1,320MW; Olorunsogo NIPP 676MW, Olorunsogo 338MW, Omotosho NIPP 450MW, Omotosho 338 MW and Paras 60MW power stations. The ministry said the sudden loss of generation due to the interruption in gas supply from these stations caused the national transmission grid to “trip off around 20:20 on January 2, 2018.”

The ministry apologised to Nigerians for any difficulty they might have been through, saying TCN and the generation companies are working to restore operation of the national grid. “We urge members of the public to bear with us as we work to overcome this set back which should be temporary,” it said.

Source: Energy Mix Report