Nigeria loses almost half its power output after pipeline fire

LAGOS: A fire at a Nigerian pipeline interrupted gas supplies to companies generating more than 3,000 megawatts in Africa's most populous nation, the government said.

The fire at the Escravos-Lagos pipeline owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp in the southern Edo state required a shutdown of the pipeline supplying gas to the 1,320-megawatt Egbin power plant, the nation's biggest, and five others, according to an emailed statement by the Power, Works and Housing Ministry.

The interruption tripped the national transmission grid on Tuesday, it said. Most of Nigeria's power is from thermal generation. The gas produced by oil and gas companies is delivered to the power stations through pipelines owned and operated by Nigerian Gas Processing and Transportation Company.