Nigeria’s daily oil and gas production slumped during the three-day nationwide strike by Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, (PENGASSAN). The industrial action was called off Thursday after government-mediated talks with Dangote Refinery.
The strike, which began on September 28, was called after the Dangote Refinery, Africa’s largest with a crude processing capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, dismissed more than 800 unionised staff. The walkout cut about 283,000 barrels per day of oil, that is about 16 per cent of national output and 1.7 billion standard cubic feet per day of gas, while knocking out more than 1,200 megawatts of power generation, according to a report by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited. The NNPC had warned the disruption posed a “material threat to national energy security” if prolonged.
Key facilities shuttered during the action included the Shell-operated Bonga floating production unit and the Oben gas plant, while the restart of Nigeria LNG’s Train 5 and 6 was delayed, and midstream networks were disrupted.
Cargo loadings for Dangote refinery as well as at export terminals such as Akpo, Brass, and Egina were also delayed, risking demurrage costs and at least five critical maintenance and project timelines slipped, the report said.
NNPC said it activated business continuity plans and deployed non-union staff to sustain operations during the stoppage, but warned of “significant revenue losses” from missed liftings and gas sales.
The union suspended the strike after talks brokered by the government, easing immediate supply risks, though NNPC cautioned that systemic vulnerabilities remained.
(The Nation)
