Electricity consumers in nine of the 17 local government areas (LGAs) in Abia State serviced by Aba Power will experience a significant reduction in supply beginning Thursday, following a disruption in natural gas deliveries to the 188-megawatt Geometric Power Plant in Aba.
Edise Ekong, brand and communications senior manager at Aba Power, confirmed that the load shedding is directly proportional to the reduced volume of gas currently being supplied to the thermal plant by Heirs Energies.
Heirs Energies operates Oil Mining Licence 18 (OML 18), the upstream asset from which gas is sourced to power the plant owned by Geometric Power, located in the Osisioma Industrial Layout, Aba. The Aba Ring-fence, Nigeria’s first integrated and ring-fenced electricity distribution network, depends heavily on this dedicated gas supply arrangement to sustain generation and distribution stability.
According to Ekong, the supply shortfall stems from an unexpected adjustment in Heirs Energies’ 2026 maintenance schedule. As a result, the load shedding across the affected LGAs may last up to four days.
Energy sector analysts say the duration could have been longer but for accelerated technical interventions. “If not for the efforts of the Heirs Energies technical team, the maintenance schedule would have lasted at least a week,” said Cliff Eneh, a Lagos-based energy consultant.
Industry sources indicate that OML 18 has required extensive rehabilitation since its transfer to Heirs Energies. The oil block’s infrastructure, originally installed several decades ago, has aged significantly, necessitating substantial capital expenditure and prolonged maintenance cycles.
The asset was previously operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) before a protracted legal dispute followed the Federal Government’s refusal under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari to renew SPDC’s operating licence. The matter progressed from the Federal High Court to the Court of Appeal and ultimately to the Supreme Court.
During the pendency of the litigation, industry insiders say SPDC adopted a conservative investment posture on the asset, limiting major capital deployment amid uncertainty over licence renewal. The cumulative effect, according to energy analyst Ejike (surname withheld), has been significant infrastructure degradation.
“The consequence is the constant requirement of huge financial resources and time by Heirs Energies to restore OML 18 to optimal operational levels. This inevitably results in intermittent downtime of natural gas supply to major customers like Geometric Power, Nigeria’s foremost integrated power group,” Ejike stated.
Despite the current disruption, both Eneh and Ejike expressed optimism that sustained rehabilitation and modernisation efforts at OML 18 will yield more stable gas supply conditions in the near term.
“At the pace the Heirs Energies team is working, restoration to more consistent supply levels may come sooner than expected,” Eneh noted.
