In what is seen as a total blackout, worsened throughout the country around 10:40am, Monday March 14 after the national grid collapsed, with the Eko Electricity Distribution Company, confirming the incident in a text message to its customers.

Consumers who are yet to come to terms with Power tariff hikes that is not commensurate with the amount of power distributed  have continued to lament the epileptic electricity supply across the country. In Lagos south west Nigeria consumers have been greeted on a regular basis with power shortages which has also affected businesses in the commercial nerve centre.

The Nigerian national power grid collapsed , causing a nationwide outage as the entire system crashed due to the loss of 1,100 megawatts from a 3,700mw peak generation earlier recorded.

For the power sector, as at March 14, the system was yet to pick up load, according to a grid operations report, which showed that just three Generation Companies (Gencos) were trying to restart, but were yet to generate any energy.

News report gathered said  Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, called an emergency meeting yesterday to resolve all outstanding issues with the stakeholders in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) as a result of the worsening power situation.

According to the grid operation trend, of the active 25 Gencos on the grid, 19 were producing power as of 6am, when the grid had 3,867.60MW, but that began to reduce gradually until it dropped to 2,761.20MW by 10am after six Gencos went down, leaving just 13, before crashing to zero at 10.40 am.

at least 1,100MW was initially lost from the 3,867MW peak generation before the Gencos started shutting down.

The analysis showed that the affected plants included Azura-Edo IPP (Gas), which was generating 447MW earlier, and Shiroro hydropower, which had 300MW earlier and later went off. Trans-Amadi (Gas) lost 92MW, Alaoji NIPP (Gas) lost 75MW, while Ihovbor NIPP (Gas) lost 101MW.

As of yesterday, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), which manages the power grid, had yet to comment on the immediate cause of the collapse, although, it was the first in the year.

Following  airline operators warning  that they have only three days left to shut down operations over lingering scarcity of aviation fuel in Nigeria.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), Airline operators, aviation fuel marketers and other stakeholders agreed on an interim price of N500 for aviation fuel, Jet A1.

The interim price is to run for three days pending the determination of a substantive price that would be arrived at.

The Group Managing Director, NNPC Ltd, Mele Kyari, disclosed this at the end of the resumed stakeholders meeting on the high cost and non-availability of aviation fuel in the country.

Kyari said after consultations between stakeholders, the airline operators would be given licences to import aviation fuel as requested by the chairman of Air Peace.

The Vice-Chairman, Airline Operators of Nigeria, Allen Onyeama said, although it was not what they expected, they have agreed to experiment with the price for three days while negotiations between stakeholders last.

“We would have loved to have the price as low as N200 per litre, but we will keep to the agreement on the tentative price,” Onyeama said.

He, however, disclosed that the cost of airline tickets would still be on the high side until everything is resolved.

Speaking on Monday, March 14, 2022, at a meeting of oil marketers and Airline operators in the National Assembly, Onyema said, “We have only three more days, all airlines in Nigeria will shut down. We are not threatening this country, it is a fact.”

He explained that if they were to continue flying, an average Nigerian will spend N120,000 for an economy ticket.

Nigerian Airline operators are demanding operational licenses from the federal government to begin importation of fuel into the country following the recent fuel debacle and scarcity across the country.

The Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Wase pleaded with the stakeholders to resolve the issue and reduce the sufferings of aviation passengers in the country, adding that the interim report would be presented on the floor of the House on Tuesday, March 15, 2022.

Cause of aviation fuel price hike

Looking at the cause of the scarcity and current high price, Chief Executive Officer of Cleanserve Energy, Chris Ndule, said the current price of crude oil in the international market had affected the prices of all petroleum products, aviation inclusive.

Ndule said: “It is not only aviation fuel price that has increased, other petroleum products prices have also increased.

“This is partly due to the current price of crude oil in the international market, which is going for between $110 and $125 per barrel.

“The raging war in Ukraine has affected international trade. For instance, I was to bring in some shipment of Jet A1. But my foreign partner decided we should hold on and watch the international shipping routes.”

Oil companies operating in Nigeria Eni, the parent company of Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) and Shell on Monday declared a Force Majeure on expected oil output at its Brass terminal in Yenagoa.

The declaration means a shortfall of 25,000 barrels of crude oil and 13 million standard cubic metres of gas per day from the terminal.

A Force Majeure is a legal clause in contracts which absolves firms from legal liabilities due to circumstances beyond their control.

“An incident occurred on the Ogoda/Brass 24 oil line at Okparatubo in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa. The incident was caused by a blast, consequently causing a spill.

“All wells connected to that pipeline were immediately shut whilst river booms and containment barges were mobilised to reduce the impact of the spill.

Shell Petroleum Development Company, the local unit of Royal Dutch Shell, on Monday said it declared force majeure on Bonny Light oil export programme beginning from March 3, citing a decline in flows to the export terminal.

On the same day, Italian energy giant Eni also declared the same measure on exports of Brass River crude oil, triggered by a pipeline explosion in Bayelsa State. Force majeure legally allows a company not to meet contractual obligations for reasons that are out of its control.

The twin occurrences is likely further pressure a market reeling from the weighty implications of Russian occupation of Ukraine by complicating supply woes.

The two Nigerian grades – Bonny Light and Brass River – were part of a shipment programme of 170,000 barrels of crude per day (bpd) for April even though they have seen a continuous for years, Bloomberg said, citing loading plans.

Eni stated it has pared crude exports from Brass Export terminal by around 25,000 bpd, noting that the explosion was the second blast after an explosion on February 28 at its Obama flow station caused a drop in output of 5,000 bpd.

kMarket observers are weighing the uncertainty around the fate of Russian oil following the country’s occupation of Ukraine, with a number of energy firms ending patronage of new cargoes from Moscow and some countries ordering embargo on importation of petroleum from Russia.

The latest developments could deal a blow on Nigeria

Analysts at the Economist Intelligence Unit, EIU say Nigeria’s fiscal situation will worsen considerably this year under the weight of soaring energy prices which should otherwise have been a blessing, with budget deficit rising to six per cent of gross domestic product, GDP and inflation surging past sixteen per cent.

Nigeria’s current oil production level is now half what it was in 1992, hobbled by a woeful management of the industry by government.

Shell, the anglo-dutch energy giant which produced about 900,000 barrels of oil in 1992 has seen its production fall to a mere 200,000 barrels today.

According to the report, “Nigeria is encountering a mini-crisis regarding petrol. In early February the authorities withdrew adulterated petrol from circulation, after it emerged that an unsanctioned blend was causing the breakdown of motor vehicles and shutdowns of emergency power-generation equipment.

The precarious situation of the continent’s largest economy is also a drag of the growth of the private sector and a pain in the neck of ordinary Nigerians.

Brent crude oil prices breached the $130/barrel mark in early March, raising the prices of fuel products like diesel and petrol in tandem.

Most Nigerian firms and businesses rely on stand-by diesel generators for electricity supply.

The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Ltd has brokered an interim agreement between oil marketers and Airline operators to start a transparent basis pricing in three-day time, a statement by the organization has shown.

This development, according to the statement, is coming on the back of a bid towards resolving the current aviation fuel price hike in the country.

According to Kyari, this means that they need to have a reference benchmark that is quoted transparently in the market and have a referenced exchange rate for naira so that anyone can compute.

Kyari expressed belief that this will help bring to close the discrepancies experienced in the market.

Shell Plc and Eni SpA have both declared force majeure on critical Nigerian oil shipments, threatening to disrupt supplies in a market already concerned over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

This development comes after Shell’s measure, which pertains to its Bonny export program, has been in effect since March 3.

While Eni’s is around Brass crude cargoes and comes after a pipeline explosion in Bayelsa state.

Force majeure is a legal provision that permits businesses to avoid contractual obligations due to circumstances beyond their control.

For Nigeria, the lost cargoes might be considerable. According to loading plans, the country was set to export about 1.5 million barrels per day this month.

Energy giant, Shell plc which has planned to divest its shallow water and onshore assets in Nigeria may face new hurdles as a judge has ordered for a resolution of an oil spill case it is involved in before the deal can progress.

The sale of its Nigerian assets will be postponed until a court rules on the company’s appeal of the N800bn penalty awarded against Shell by an Owerri High Court.

According to Mohammed Ndarani Mohammed, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, the order was issued on March 11 by a Federal Appeal Court in Owerri.

Ndarani said the three-judge panel also ordered Shell to deposit the judgment sum in a court-controlled account within two working days, according to a Bloomberg report.

For more than a decade, Shell has been selling onshore and shallow water licences to Nigerian independent producers.