Nigeria’s oil and gas output took a major hit this week during the three-day nationwide strike by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), according to a report by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
In a letter to regulators dated September 29, Bayo Ojulari, chief executive officer of NNPC, said the strike caused severe production deferments and immediate cashflow pressures from missed crude lifts and reduced gas sales.
Read also: NNPC, Dangote Refinery ink new two-year crude supply deal
“Within the first 24 hours of the strike, production deferments stood at about 283,000 barrels per day of oil, 1.7 billion standard cubic feet of gas, and over 1,200 megawatts of power generation. This equates to around 16 percent of national oil output, 30 percent of marketed gas, and 20 percent of electricity generation,” Ojulari wrote.
The industrial action, which began on September 28, was triggered by the dismissal of workers at the 650,000-barrel-per-day Dangote Refinery, Africa’s largest crude processing plant. The fallout rippled across the country’s energy sector, compounding Nigeria’s struggle with fragile oil and gas production.
The disruptions also forced the shutdown of key facilities, including Shell’s Bonga floating production unit and the Oben gas plant, while restarts at Nigeria LNG’s Trains 5 and 6 were delayed. Export loadings from terminals such as Akpo, Brass, and Egina also faced holdups, raising the risk of demurrage charges.
NNPC said it activated emergency protocols and deployed non-union staff to keep operations running where possible, but warned that “systemic risks” to national energy security remained. At least five maintenance and project schedules were also pushed back.
The strike followed an emergency meeting of PENGASSAN’s National Executive Council. General Secretary Lumumba Okugbawa said the union acted in response to what it described as wrongful dismissals at the Dangote plant.
Read also: PENGASSAN strike ground activities in NUPRC, NNPC, NMDPRA
Dangote Group denied reports of mass layoffs, insisting only a small number of workers were affected by an internal reorganisation aimed at safeguarding operations and preventing sabotage.
The strike was suspended after talks mediated by the federal government, easing immediate supply concerns. However, NNPC cautioned that vulnerabilities in energy security exposed by the dispute remain unresolved.
