PENGASSAN Threatens To Shut Oil Production

Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has warned that crude oil production will be shut down if the Federal Government failed to revert the pump price of petrol to N65 per litre.

Babatunde Ogun, PENGASSAN President, gave the warning at a news conference, yesterday in Lagos.

“We are hereby notifying the Federal Government and all Nigerians that PENGASSAN shall be forced to apply the option of ordering the systematic shutting down of oil and gas production, with effect from midnight on Saturday if the issue is not resolved,” he said.

He said that the union would take the decision “if the government does not yield to the agitations of Nigerians by reverting the pump price of petrol to N65”.

He said PENGASSAN had decided to shut the operations of oil and gas sector in phases because it remained the major source of revenue for the nation.

“The implication of a total shut down is more devastating than the problem at hand because there will be no crude export, no energy, gas, fuel and no communication.

“It is a great decision to make and if we shut operations, the oil wells will stop flowing.

“While it takes two to three days to shut down, it will take between six months and one year to get it to work again,” Ogun warned.

The PENGASSAN leader said that the country would lose two million barrels of crude oil per day and huge revenue if operations were shut in.

He further said that the government would pay huge damages and demurrage if productions were disrupted.

He reiterated PENGASSAN’s commitment to the ongoing industrial action which entered the fourth day yesterday.

Men of the Rivers State Fire Service putting out a fire that gutted houses at Rumuola, Port Harcourt, last Saturday.