Two oil and gas unions, Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), on Wednesday warned that due process must be followed in the divestment of Oil Mining Licences (OML) to avoid crisis. Oil workers had protested in Benin, Lagos and Port Harcourt over the transfer of OML 42, OML 40 and OML 30 to Neconde. The President of NUPENG, Mr Igwe Achese, told a news conference in Lagos that his union was not against divestment but that due process should be followed. Achese said that the divestment should be transparent and that the company involved should be an outfit whose operations Nigerians should know about. He said that every divestment should represent the interest of workers and Nigerians, noting that global standards should also be followed. Achese warned that workers would resist any plan to transfer the divestment without proper procedure. The President of PENGASSAN, Mr Francis Johnson, suggested that the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) should operate OML 42, based on NNPC’s 55 per cent equity. According to Johnson, NPDC has grown the production level of OML 42 to its current 27,000 from 14,000 bpd at take over.
Source: Today News
