Barely two weeks after the Escravos to Lagos Pipeline (ELP) was burnt by a bush fire and later repaired the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Thursday reported that the ELP has been ruptured again by an explosion.
NNPC said in a statement signed by its spokesman Ndu Ughamadu that the ELP was ruptured by an explosion along Egbokodo-Omadino, in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State.
The corporation said, however, its Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, has directed that repair works should be executed immediately on the pipeline.
He said that the GMD further directed that gas supply from other sources like Oben, Oredo, Sapele, Ughelli and Utorogu be stepped up to augment any shortfalls as repair works have commenced on the pipeline.”
The Escravos pipeline supplies gas to power plants, in addition to feeding the West Africa Gas Pipeline System.
“It should be recalled that ELPS-C (downstream) of this pipeline was incinerated by a bush fire January 2 at Abakila, in Ondo State, which had since been rectified and brought back to service,” Ughamadu said.
The earlier fire incident had affected gas supply to customers in Ondo, Ogun and Lagos State with subsequent shutdown of some power plants with a combined generating capacity of 1,143MW.
