The Nation Newspaper

Tag: PENGASSAN

  • PENGASSAN flays PIB

    PENGASSAN flays PIB

    The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has condemned the proposed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), describing it as anti-labour.

    The workers vowed to resist the plan by the Federal Government to retrench workers, especially employees of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as a result of the restructuring in the proposed PIB.

    They argued that the planned sack was not in tandem with the “change” that the government promised Nigerians, especially in the area of job creation.

    Reacting to the official release of the proposed draft institutional and legal frameworks for reforms in the oil and gas industry by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, who is also Group Managing Director (GMD) of the NNPC, the group’s acting General Secretary, Comrade Lumumba Okugbawa, in a statement said the provisions in the proposed PIB are not only anti-labour but also not in the national interest.

  • PENGASSAN vows to resist job cuts

    PENGASSAN vows to resist job cuts

    • Wants PIB passed immediately

    The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has vowed to fight any form of job cuts in the industry by government and International Oil Companies (IOCs).

    While declaring it is not averse to removals of subsidy on petroleum products, the union said it will not support any policy that will have negative effects on ordinary Nigerians.

    It also called for immediate passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), saying it will save the nation about $15 billion revenue annually as well as address other challenges facing the oil and gas industry.

    Its national president, Olabode Johnson, spoke in Abuja at the end of the National Executive Council meeting of the association.

    He said the PIB, which has been in the National Assembly for about nine years, will be in the overall interest of the nation.

    Johnson, who said the association will support any move by government that will better the oil and gas sector, however, stated it will resist deliberate attempts by IOCs to make members redundant.

    He lamented that the IOCs have been bringing in expatriates to take over the jobs of Nigerians in the name of falling oil prices.

    The labour leader said: “If our local refineries are working optimally, we can then look and see what subsidy we need. If you say we are consuming 40 million litres, when our refineries are working, the level of importation will be very minimal and that will save us some money for either levels of governance.

    “We should also diversify the economy. The government should behave as if there is no oil and gas in the country and focus on other mineral resources and agriculture and therefore remove pressure on oil and gas.”

  • PENGASSAN gets new officers at NNPC CHQ

    PENGASSAN gets new officers at NNPC CHQ

    Senior members of the staff at the headquaters of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) have elected new officers to lead them for the next three years.

    The workers, under the aegis of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), picked Comrade Matthew Duru as their chairman. He took over from Comrade Nuhu Marcus Avong.

    In his acceptance speech, Duru promised to ensure continuity of Avong’s programmes.

    “I promise that I will not disappoint all who voted me into power. I will work hand-in-hand with the former Chairman, Comrade Avong, and I will always seek his advice on issues. I will continue from where he stopped to take our branch to a higher level,” he said.

    Duru assured other officers and members of a cordial working relationship, promising to maintain a good working relationship with national and zonal levels of PENGASSAN.

    PENGASSAN President Comrade Francis Olabode Johnson said all hands must be on deck to ensure that the ongoing reforms in the oil and gas industry work for the benefit of the members.

    He said: “The ongoing reforms will definitely pose some challenges, but we should work together to derive benefits from the reforms.

    “The government has promised to  revamp refineries and we have seen the steps taken so far. Port Harcourt Refinery is now working. I enjoin everyone in the branch to work as a team, so that we can see the plans of the government coming to fulfilment.”

  • PENGASSAN seeks legal framework on oil theft

    The Petroleum and National ‎Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has urged President Mohammadu Buhari to formulate an effective legal framework to check oil theft.

    It ‎said the Petroleum Industry Bill should be revisited if the President wants to block leakages in the oil and gas sector.

    The National President of the association, Comrade Francis Johnson, stated this at a training programme organised for executive members of union on “Managing New Skills in Labour Relations.”

    Johnson accused major oil firms of making oil workers redundant through their response to the falling crude oil price.

    He said, “Let the government come out with a strong legal framework that can stabilise the industry. Look at GSM, it was not like this when it started.

    “You can look at giving Nigerians more licences. Let Nigerians build refineries because they can also create jobs.‎ When you have a legal framework for oil and gas, the issue of pipeline vandalism and state of our refineries will be taken care of.‎”‎

    “Oil companies, oil majors, (International Oil Companies) IOCs should not be taking advantage of the fallen crude oil prices. You cannot say that because there is a fall in crude oil price, which is something that is temporary and fluctuating, you want to make our members redundant and you are employing new people.”

    “It is not acceptable to us. We want to appeal to the government that, in view of the fluctuating crude oil prices, it must also be looking at diversifying the economy.”

     

     

  • Buhari’s refineries measures in tandem with OPEC’s, says PENGASSAN

    Buhari’s refineries measures in tandem with OPEC’s, says PENGASSAN

    The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) yesterday extolled President Muhammadu Buhari’s measures on petroleum refineries, saying that they are in line with the stipulations of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

    Reacting to The Nation’s request from the association to comment on the measures that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was adopting to address fuel supply in the country, the association said it was impressed with government’s decision to revive the refineries.

    PENGASSAN said: “This is one of the conditions we gave before the downstream of the oil and gas industry can be deregulated, and we really appreciate President Buhari’s resolve to ensure that the refineries are back on stream.

    Retaining the refineries under government ownership is in tandem with OPEC’s mandate that every member country should be at the commanding height of its economy.”

    According to the Public Relations Officer, Comrade Emmanuel Ojugbana, who responded to The Nation’s questions, former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government issued licences to private investors for green field refineries, but they refused to construct the plants for fear of government’s commitment.

    He noted that there is now a cause to believe that the President’s commitment will guarantee private investment in new refineries.

    Describing the President as an experienced regulator of the oil and gas sector, the association recalled that the President built the Port Harcourt refinery while he was the Federal Commissioner of Petroleum and Natural Resources and the first Chairman of the Board of the NNPC.

    “So, he knows the onus and we believe his decisions are right,” said the oil workers.

    PENGASSAN added: “This is a welcome development to us as a union. In fact, we had been clamouring for the establishment of more refineries before now.

    “During the former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, licences were given to some investors, but unfortunately, they did not go ahead.

    “Now with the commitment of President Buhari, there is tendency that the government will guarantee enabling environment to make the investment a reality.”

    The association said that it is not opposed to deregulation of but it has always insisted that there should be a reasonable level of domestic refining capacity.

    It said: “We are not averse to deregulation, but our argument is that it must be import-driven. There should be some level of local refining of petroleum products in the country.

    “This is why we have been clamouring for encouraging investments in the establishment of refineries, especially modular refineries. This will not only increase local refining of petroleum products and stem down scarcity but also enhance job creation in the sector.

    “We also argued that it is not safe for Nigeria to sell its national assets. That is why we are against the outright sale of the refineries.

    “We therefore propose a model just like the Nigeria LNG model whereby the government will own 51% and the private investors will own 49 per cent.

    “With this model, the managements of the refineries will have some levels of administrative and financial autonomy to ensure adequate running of the refineries.”

  • PENGASSAN criticises govt over NNPC’s JVs non-funding

    PENGASSAN criticises govt over NNPC’s JVs non-funding

    Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has urged the Federal Government to pay up its counterpart fund (cash call) in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Joint Venture (JV) operations with the oil firms, claiming non-payment is negatively affecting their operations.

    Speaking in Lagos on the government’s inability to fund JV operations and unpaid arrears of cash calls, its Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Ojugbana, said the JV between the NNPC and international oil companies (IOCs) accounted for more than 60 per cent of Nigeria’s crude oil production.

    Ojugbana said: “The JV structure is an average of 55 per cent for the NNPC and 45 per cent for private oil companies. Unfortunately, despite the fact that NNPC has a larger chunk of the proceeds from the JVs, it has always been defaulting in payment of its own counterpart funding of projects. Exploration has been greatly recessed by the challenge of funding the operating budget and cash call obligations. Over 50 per cent cut in JV funding and irregular release of cash call has made the operators to scale down on the whole spectrum of the E&P operations.

    “Oil companies are owed billions of dollars in cash call arrears putting the jobs of our members and other workers in the industry in jeopardy as companies easily rationalise disengagement of staff and reduction in welfare packages as being due to lack of funds based on outstanding funding arrears.’’

  • PENGASSAN criticises govt over NNPC’s JVs non-funding

    Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has urged the Federal Government to pay up its counterpart fund (cash call) in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Joint Venture (JV) operations with the oil firms, claiming non-payment is negatively affecting their operations.

    Speaking in Lagos on the government’s inability to fund JV operations and unpaid arrears of cash calls, its Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Ojugbana, said the JV between the NNPC and international oil companies (IOCs) accounted for more than 60 per cent of Nigeria’s crude oil production.

    Ojugbana said: “The JV structure is an average of 55 per cent for the NNPC and 45 per cent for private oil companies. Unfortunately, despite the fact that NNPC has a larger chunk of the proceeds from the JVs, it has always been defaulting in payment of its own counterpart funding of projects. Exploration has been greatly recessed by the challenge of funding the operating budget and cash call obligations. Over 50 per cent cut in JV funding and irregular release of cash call has made the operators to scale down on the whole spectrum of the E&P operations.

    “Oil companies are owed billions of dollars in cash call arrears putting the jobs of our members and other workers in the industry in jeopardy as companies easily rationalise disengagement of staff and reduction in welfare packages as being due to lack of funds based on outstanding funding arrears.’’

    “As workers in the industry and Nigerians, we are concerned about this perennial problem and demand that the government should make funds available to clear cash call arrears owed to oil companies so as to restart stall projects as well as bring in new investments into the sector, which will translate to creation of more jobs in the industry. Once JV work programmes and budgets are approved, the government should adhere to it for the duration of the year, adding that there should be no cuts in the JV budget during the year when work programmes are already implemented as it has adverse effect on such JV operations.”

    Ojugbana suggested that once JV work programme and budgets are approved, the government should adhere to it for the duration of the year, adding that there should be no cuts in the JV budget during the year when work programmes are already implemented as it has adverse effect on such JV operations.

  • PENGASSAN flays call for scrapping of NNPC

    PENGASSAN flays call for scrapping of NNPC

    THE Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has faulted calls by Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai for the scrapping of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

    Its Acting General Secretary, Lumumba Okugbawa, in a statement on the governor’s comment in a paper he delivered at the Seventh Prof. Wole Soyinka Birthday Lecture on Monday, said instead of calling for NNPC to be killed, El-Rufai should have called for the insulation of the corporation from undue political interference.

    Okugbawa noted that corruption was not peculiar to the NNPC as mentioned by the governor, but a problem hindering the country’s growth as well as the oil and gas sector

    He said the NNPC, which was created by an Act of Parliament in 1977, is made up of the holding office, subsidiaries and service units.

    He lamented that the corporation had been subjected to undue political interference, which, he said, hindered its autonomy for effective running and competitiveness in the last six years.

    But Okugbawa noted that it should not be a yardstick for the scrapping of the corporation as demanded by the governor.

    He said: “Let the government deal with the corruption in the system, but not to ‘throw away the baby with the bath water.

     ”If you look at the NNPC as it is today, it has been politicised, with most of its decisions and operations being influenced by political motives and at times, executive fiat. The corporation is so much tied to the apron of the political office holders, but not the technocrats that are at the helm of the corporation’s affairs.”

     Some of the areas of interference listed by Okugbawa include: appointment and removal of the group managing director (GMD), group executive directors (GED), and managing directors of NNPC subsidiaries by the President; and limited financial autonomy for its operations.

    The unionist said: “NNPC should be a national oil corporation that can compete favourably globally as Saudi Aramco of Saudi Arabia, Petronas of Malaysia, Petrobras of Brazil and Statoil of Norway etc., given the opportunities and market potential.

    “If we take a look at NNPC contemporaries in the world, such as Saudi Aramco, Petrobras, Petronas and Statoil, we will notice that their holding governments give those companies freedom to growth and expansion of the companies to the great benefits of the citizenry and their respective governments.

    “Operations and administration of NNPC come under several masters and conflicting instructions, some of which defy the national objectives and aspirations for setting up the corporation and its subsidiaries.

    “Appointment, removal and/or transfer of the heads and staff of the corporation and its subsidiaries are often executed by fiat in the manner that undermines the extant national laws, and the NNPC Act.”

  • PENGASSAN to Buhari: address irregular oil blocks allocation

    PENGASSAN to Buhari: address irregular oil blocks allocation

    The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN)has challenged President Muhammadu Buhari to address irregular allocation and transfer of oil blocks, which it identified as one of the major challenges affecting the oil and gas industry.

    The union also called for immediate declaration of state of emergency in the industry, saying anything short of this would be cosmetic because the industry is a critical sector of the nation’s economy.

    President of PENGASSAN, Francis Johnson, who said this in his address at the Fourth Triennial Delegate Conference of PENGASSAN in Abuja, argued that the state of emergency was necessary to highlight the many challenges bedeviling the industry.

    He said: “The association is using this forum to restate its call on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the oil and gas industry in view of the highlighted challenges bedeviling the industry.

    “When you are talking about allocation of oil blocks, under normal circumstances, the Department of Petroleum Resources in conjunction with the minister will do something that is transparent, it must be open. But what is on ground now does not represent that.

    “That is why we are calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to address the issue and we said that for the oil and gas sector to grow as expected by all Nigerians, the government must declare a state of emergency.”

    Johnson further highlighted the challenges confronting the industry to include crude oil theft and pipeline vandalisation, irregular Joint Venture Funding and non-payment of JV Cash Calls, poor state of the refineries and fuel subsidy claims.

    He also identified bad state of access roads to operational locations (refineries, depots e.t.c), non-passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB)  and divestment by International Oil Companies as other issues facing the sector.

    He explained that the state of emergency should be an all-inclusive stakeholders’forum which would chart ways and evolve a framework for the industry as well as hold periodic meetings to evaluate and review the success and workability of the framework.

    The PENGASSAN chief noted that the forum would lay the bedrock for the resolution of challenges confronting this critical sector of the economy.

  • Pipeline Vandalism: PENGASSAN urges FG to equip security forces

    Pipeline Vandalism: PENGASSAN urges FG to equip security forces

    Workers in the oil and gas industry under the auspices of the Producers’ Forum of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) have called on the government to equip the security forces to fight crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism in the country.

    Speaking at a press conference in Lagos at the weekend, the Chairman of the Forum, Comrade Emmanuel Onuorah, said the nation is losing about 250kbpd and 400kbpd of crude oil to theft and pipeline vandalisation, which is the combined production of Ghana, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

    Onuorah said, “If the crude oil price is put at an average of $60/barrel, this translates to between $15million and $25million lost in revenue. As a major stakeholder in the industry, we lament the huge loss, which could have been deployed into critical areas of national development.

    “Huge unbudgeted costs are being incurred to repair or replace pipelines at damaged/theft points. Government needs to develop the political will to stop pipeline vandalism and oil theft including sanctioning collaborators in the military and security services.

    “The security forces should be empowered by Government to secure our national assets instead of the use of unconventional methods through award of contract to those without security and intelligence know-how to protect these critical national assets.”

    Listing some of the evils of pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft, he said that pipeline vandalisation is a key cause of massive divestment by the International Oil Companies (IOCs) since 2010, adding that the criminal activities has also forced refineries to shut down since the feedstock is always truncated.

    “Pipeline sabotage has continually strained Nigeria to resort to importation of petroleum products and waste the limited resources meant for capital and human development programmes.

    “Regrettably, sabotaged pipeline is the major reason for spillages and environmental devastation setting the host communities against both the Oil Operators and the Government.

    He therefore called on the government to ensure that pipeline integrity are sound enough to enable safe transportation of crude and refined products all over the country, saying that pipeline installation can now be done using state of the art technology in manner that will be inaccessible to vandals.

    Comrade Onuorah expressed the expectation of the Producers Forum that pipeline managers should imbibe the culture of regular maintenance while government will live up to its responsibility of providing adequate security by committing to usage of modern hi-technology equipment for the surveillance and protection of pipelines and other oil and gas installations.

    He also demanded that there should be regular surveillance of pipelines to detect and prevent vandals’ action, adding that enabling legal instruments for sanctioning violators/defaulters should be reviewed, while more effective counter-strategy against oil theft and sabotage is implemented.