Friday, 18 May 2012

Alison-Madueke Revs up FG’s Gas-to-Power Programme



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Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke


In a move to achieve the 12-month emergency timeline she had set for the correction of the misalignments in gas-to-power aspirations, Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, Wednesday raised a team of experts to visit gas project sites across the country, beginning today. 
The experts, whose tour of duty is for a one-week period, have been mandated to go to  all gas installations and projects key to the realisation of the timeline and also listed for the production of additional gas under the gas supply emergency programme.
Unveiling the team’s itinerary in a press statement, Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Levi Ajuonuma, said the tour, which starts with the visit of the minister to the Utorogu Gas Plant in Delta State today, is geared towards eliminating bottlenecks in the drive to ensure adequate supply of the product for power generation.
According to Ajuonuma, “This is a very crucial task that’s why the minister has directed the Group Executive Director in charge of Exploration and Production at the NNPC, Mr. Andy Yakubu, to lead the inspection. The team is expected to report back to the minister on a project-by-project basis. The projects will include new gas plants, as well as expansion of existing plants and new pipeline infrastructure projects."
Other members of the team, according to the statement, include: Group Executive Director, Gas & Power, Dr. David Ige; Managing Director, Gas Aggregator Company of Nigeria, Mr. Kunle Allen; and Managing Director, Nigerian Gas Company, Mr. Saidu Mohammed.
Also on the team are Group General Manager, National Petroleum Investment Management Services, NAPIMS, Mr. Morrison Fiddi, and the organisation’s General Manager, Gas, Mr. Paul Ajishafe.
The minister had in the wake of the shortage in gas supply to thermal power plants in the country initiated the measure which is expected to engender “tremendous” increase in gas supply within the next 12 months.
The minister, it was further learnt, is set to host a roundtable discussion on crude oil production and the state of the oil industry in Nigeria.
The event is designed to provide a forum to deliberate on current issues and challenges facing the upstream sub-sector of the industry such as high rate of pipeline vandalism, asset integrity challenges, among others.
The forum is expected to have in attendance, chief executives of international oil and gas companies (IOCs,) as well as indigenous operators and other key stakeholders in the industry.

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