Alison-Madueke Unfolds Three-Step Action Plan to Boost Gas to Power Supply

The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, has unveiled a 3-step action plan aimed at ensuring that all the power plants that are billed to come on stream in the future get adequate gas supply to fire them with a view to meeting the Federal Government's target of providing stable electricity to Nigerians within the next few years.

The Minister disclosed the 3-step action plan on Thursday while delivering a goodwill message at the launch of the Roadmap for Power Sector Reform in Nigeria.

She listed the 3-step action plan to include immediate delivery of gas projects, consolidation of end-to-end connection of gas pipelines and expansion of pipelines with emphasis on the Ob-Ob and the Escravos-Lagos link.

She explained that the action plan is geared towards ensuring that every bit of gas is effectively transported from where it is produced to where it is needed.

Alison-Madueke who put the gas need to sustain power generation in the country by 2013 at three billion standard cubic feet per day (3 billion scf/d) said there was need to redouble effort to meet the target.

Besides the 3-point action plan which she promised to pursue aggressively, the Minister said the ministry had earlier secured Presidential approval for new gas pricing regimes for the power and manufacturing sectors to boost investors' confidence in the gas sector.

While congratulating President Goodluck Jonathan and the Presidential Task Force on Power for the launch of the Power Sector Reform Roadmap, Alison-Madueke expressed optimism that the projected three billion standard cubic feet per day of gas demand for 2013 would be met, adding that currently all Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, gas-based power plants are being supplied with adequate gas.

Meanwhile, President Jonathan has pledged the commitment of his administration to a comprehensive reform of the power sector beginning with the reconstitution of the board of the National Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, promising to send the names of his nominees to the National Assembly next week.

He said plans for the unbundling of the PHCN as stipulated in the Power Sector Reform Act and the introduction of a new tariff system that would boost investors' confidence without adversely affecting the common man were at an advance stage, adding that the sum of N57b has been released to settle the monetization arrears of PHCN staff who recently went on strike in protest of their exclusion from the monetization policy.

NNPC News