Hopes by the Nigerian Gas Company to restore gas supply to Power Holding Company of Nigeria and other industrial concerns have been dashed by militants in the Niger Delta region.
It was learnt that the militants last week, prevented the NGC from assessing and effecting repairs on its pipeline that was vandalised in Okerenkoko in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State in February.
Also trapped are about 500,000 barrels of crude oil production shut in as a result of hostile action by the militants.
The gas shut in has also led to drop in electricity supply from over 3,200 megawatts to less than 2,000MW.
Sources familiar with the issue told our correspondent that a team of officials from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and NGC, who visited the hideout of the militants in Okerenkoko last week to assess the extent of damage to the ruptured pipeline, were prevented from gaining access to the location by the militants, suspected to be Ijaw.
The vandalisation of the pipeline, which conveyed gas to the facilities of PHCN and other industrial concerns, resulted in the loss of 180m cubic feet of gas per day since February.
The development culminated in epileptic operation by PHCN.
However, it was learnt that a notable leader of the Ijaw militants in Okerenkoko turned down the request of the Group Managing Director, NNPC, Mr. Funso Kupolokun, and Managing Director, NGC, Mr Chris Ogiemwonyi, to allow access to the ruptured pipeline by the contracting firm.
Our correspondent gathered that Kupolokun and Ogiemwonyi had responded to the recent ceasefire brokered by a presidential committee headed by a former Secretary to Delta State Government, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, by asking their officials to venture into the fields to repair the abandoned gas pipeline.
But sources said that the NNPC officials were ordered into a shrine where they were asked to state their mission by the leader of the militants.
A reliable source in NNPC�s Zonal Office, Warri, said that the emissaries from NNPC were reportedly told that they would not be allowed to enter the swamps, and were asked to return to inform Kupolokun and Ogiemwonyi that some conditions must be met before they would allow the repair of the pipeline.
Specifically, the militants demanded that the contract awarded to a contractor for the repair of the pipeline be revoked and re-awarded to an indigene of the area.
They said the contractor who won the bid for the job was not an Ijaw man.
They also requested the NNPC to take concrete steps to provide electricity and water in Gbaramatu communities as contained in the agreement reached with the NNPC�s management and the Uduaghan-led presidential committee.