Abuja, Nigeria | – The two main oil workers unions in Nigeria, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) have directed employees of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), to shut down indefinitely their locations and all oil production facilities nationwide in a bid to force the minister of petroleum resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke and the federal government to reverse the transfer of operatorship of OMLs 42, 40 and 30.
The assets were previously operated by Shell. The directive to shut down the facilities was issued yesterday by the executive councils of the two industrial unions.
A petroleum industry source with knowledge of the development told Nogtec that all branch chairmen of the powerful unions have been directed to fully implement the directive starting from tomorrow, May 20, 2015.
The unions are aggrieved that the sale of the assets did not follow due process and would affect the fortunes of the NPDC and its workers.
Mr. Emeka Offor’s Elcrest Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited, a joint venture company of Eland Oil & Gas Plc, was awarded the operatorship of OML 40, while Mr. Ernest Ezedialu Obiejesi’s NECONDE is the operator of OML 42.
Sources in the sector say three flow stations have already been shut down in the creeks of the Niger Delta ahead of tomorrow’s total shutdown.
Nigeria is the largest producer of crude oil in Africa with an estimated daily production capacity of 2.2 million barrels per day.
