- Gas shortage disrupts Geometric Power’s operations.
- Aba plant imports 25MW from NDPHC at a high cost.
- Efforts are underway to resolve the gas supply issue.
Geometric Power, Nigeria’s leading integrated electricity company, struggles with a severe gas shortage that affects its 188-megawatt plant in Osisioma Industrial Estate, Aba. The company warns that the gas supply crisis hampers the state’s economic growth.
Ugo Opiegbe, Managing Director of Aba Power, a subsidiary of Geometric Power, reports that the company now imports 25 megawatts from the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) at a high cost. “We do this to ensure that our customers receive power, no matter the cost to us,” Opiegbe says.
Opiegbe voices frustration, noting that the plant can generate 141MW from its three General Electric (GE) turbines. However, the gas shortage forces them to import power instead. “We can generate enough to service nine of the 17 local government areas in Abia State and even export 50MW to the national grid,” he adds.
The Aba Ringfence, the company’s service area, requires around 90MW, which two of the plant’s turbines, each with a capacity of 47MW, could produce. “The 25MW from NDPHC is like a drop in the ocean,” Opiegbe stresses, highlighting the inadequacy of the current solution.
The unreliable gas supply hits customers hard, especially manufacturing firms, for whom Geometric Power built the $800 million Aba Integrated Power Project. Vice President Kashim Shettima, representing President Bola Tinubu, commissioned the project on February 26. The project aims to boost industrial development in Aba and serve as a model for electricity infrastructure in Nigeria.
Ogbonna Chukwueke, a gas expert and former Shell executive, explains that Geometric Power signed a 2009 agreement with the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to supply 43 million standard cubic feet (MSCF) of gas from its Oil Mining Licences (OMLs) 11 and 17 in Owaza, Ukwa East Local Government Area of Abia State. The gas was supposed to fuel the plant’s four turbines, each producing 47MW.
However, Shell exited Nigeria’s onshore and shallow offshore operations due to massive oil theft, vandalism, and security challenges, disrupting the gas supply. The transfer of OMLs 11 and 17 to local operators failed to solve the issue, with the plant often receiving less than 10 MSCFs daily.
Geometric Power works urgently to resolve the gas supply problem. The company acknowledges the efforts of Vice President Shettima, Abia State Governor Alex Otti, Power Minister Adebayo Adelabu, and Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) Group Managing Director Mele Kyari in seeking a more reliable gas source.
The company expressed optimism that it would resolve the gas shortage within a month.