Geometric Power Limited (GPL), an independent power generation company, located in Osisioma, Aba, Abia State, will be commissioned in February 2024, BusinessDay has gathered.
Ahead of the planned commissioning, GPL has concluded plans to receive natural gas supplies from the Oil Mining Licence (OML) 17 oil field, a joint venture operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and Heirs Holding Company, in Owaza, Ukwa West Local Government Area of Abia State to fire its 188-megawatt power plant in the Osisioma Industrial Layout in Aba.
The OMNL 17 was operated for decades by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) until three years ago when the Federal Government declined to renew its licence and handed it over to the NNPC as part of the process of technology transfer and increase of local content in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
BusinessDay gathered that the SPDC went to court against the Federal Government over the action, and the case lingered for three years from the Federal High Court to the Court of Appeal and finally the Supreme Court, with the government winning all the way.
Ogbonna Chukwueke, a former Shell executive and gas expert, explained that during the period Shell did not make much investment in the gas gathering infrastructure in Owaza, which resulted in the poor state of the associated gas gathering (AGG) machines and equipment at the facility.
Getting the facilities to world-class standards so that ‘pure, unadulterated dry gas can be supplied to the Geometric Power plant in Aba is the only obstacle to the take-off of the plant which will ensure quality and uninterrupted power supply to nine of the 17 local government areas in Abia State”, said Chukwueke.
“The NNPCL’s insistence on perfect and long-lasting work is why the technical commissioning of Aba Power hasn’t yet taken place, though the job is practically completed”.
Bart Nnaji, a professor and chairman of GPL, who was impressed with the support of NNPCL to the Geometric project, observed that Nigerian NNPCL was now run professionally, like an efficient private sector organisation.
Nnaji, a former minister of power, in a meeting with his company’s executives and KSE engineers and investment partners from Turkey on Sunday, noted that when the NNPC became NNPCL in July 2022, many people around the globe thought it was a mere rebranding or even a mere change of name.
“All of us are today astonished at the professionalism exhibited by the new NNPCL leaders.
“The new NNPCL is not working like a state-owned enterprise noted in Nigeria for ineffectiveness and inefficiency, but rather like professionals from Shell, TotalEnergies, ExxonMobil, and the rest,” Nnaji said.
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