The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Bayo Ojulari, has revealed that the recent strike action by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) cost the country over 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day and disrupted gas supply and power generation nationwide.
Ojulari disclosed this on Sunday night after briefing President Bola Tinubu at his Lagos residence on the impact of the strike and ongoing reforms in the oil and gas sector.
According to him, the industrial action, which affected critical facilities, forced a temporary shutdown of power generation estimated at 1,200 megawatts.
“In this particular case, we lost significant production, over 200,000 barrels per day that was deferred. Gas production was also affected, and power generation was impacted to the tune of about 1.2 megawatts,” he said.
He praised the Federal Government’s intervention in resolving the crisis, stressing that the Ministry of Labour and the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) were instrumental in restoring calm.
“I’m very pleased that through the leadership of the Minister of Labour and with the full support of the NSA, everyone was brought to the table. A communiqué has been agreed on the way forward, and we are hopeful that all parties will abide by it,” Ojulari added.
The NNPCL chief further explained that production had since stabilised, with most facilities returning to full operations, while efforts continue to recover the deferred output.
“Since then, we have been able to return production back to status quo. There are still one or two areas we’re trying to catch up on, but overall, we’ve gradually restored lost production,” he noted.
On the recent hike in the price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), popularly known as cooking gas, Ojulari dismissed the development as temporary, blaming it on logistics challenges during the strike.
“The increase you saw was relatively artificial. For the period of the strike, movements and loadings were delayed for about two to three days. Because of that, supply was constrained, and those who had reserves took advantage of the gap,” he explained.
“Now that things are back to normal, prices should return to what they were before the strike.”
Despite the disruptions, Ojulari expressed optimism about Nigeria’s energy prospects, disclosing that the country recorded its highest crude oil output in five years—1.68 million barrels per day in September—as well as a historic gas production level of over 7 billion standard cubic feet per day.
He reaffirmed NNPCL’s commitment to meeting President Tinubu’s production targets of two million barrels per day by 2027 and three million by 2030.
“Our mandate is clear: grow production and gas capacity, attract investments, and ensure energy security. With the turnaround maintenance and recovery efforts we’ve implemented, we expect to reach about 1.8 million barrels per day by the end of the year,” Ojulari said.
He assured that the company would sustain reforms, improve operational efficiency, and strengthen dialogue with stakeholders to avert future disruptions in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
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