Oil Production Shutdown: PENGASSAN Directs Red Alert

The Petroleum and Natural
Gas Senior Staff Association
of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has
directed all oil production
platforms to be on red alert
in preparation for total
production shutdown.
In a statement issued in the
past hour, the PANGASSAN
President, Mr. Babatunde
Ogun, said this was in
response to the
callousness of the federal
government, in allowing
matters to deteriorate so
far that the current
paralysis in the country
has entered the third day.
“We believe that a
Government that is alive to
its responsibilities will not
allow this strike to
degenerate thus far,” he
said, noting that as an
affiliate of the Trade Union
Congress, and fully in
support of the current
action as directed by the
TUC and the Nigeria Labour
Congress, no report is
currently being generated
from production locations to
both DPR and FGN, one of
the very first steps in a
shut down process.
Pointing out that the fuel
subsidy question is only
the tip of the iceberg amidst
a plethora of issues
needing urgent redress,
PENGASSAN reiterated that
before the removal of the
fuel subsidy, the following
conditions must be met:
•Fixing of the four
refineries and building new
ones;
•Regular power supply;
•Provision of social
infrastructures such as rail
system and roads ; and
•The elimination of
corruption associated with
supply and distribution of
petroleum products in the
downstream sector of the
oil industry.
It would be recalled that on
December 23, one week
before the federal
government arbitrarily
wiped away the oil subsidy,
PENGASSAN urged the same
government to investigate
companies and other
operators in the
downstream sector of the
oil and gas industry in view
of the massive fraud
uncovered in the report of
the international accounting
and auditing firm, KPMG.
SaharaReporters published
that report on December 9.
The federal government
has not said a word about
it.