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Address irregular oil blocks allocation – PENGASSAN tells Buhari

By on June 22, 2015

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria has challenged President Muhammadu Buhari to address irregular allocation and transfer of oil blocks, which it identified as one of the major challenges affecting the oil and gas industry.

The union also called for immediate declaration of state of emergency in the industry, saying anything short of this would be cosmetic because the industry is a critical sector of the nation’s economy.

President of PENGASSAN, Francis Johnson, who said this in his address at the 4th Triennial Delegate Conference of Total E & P Branch of PENGASSAN on Saturday in Abuja, argued that the state of emergency was necessary to highlight the many challenges bedeviling the industry.

He said, “The association is using this forum to restate its call on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the oil and gas industry in view of the highlighted challenges bedeviling the industry.

“When you are talking about allocation of oil blocks, under normal circumstances, the Department of Petroleum Resources in conjunction with the minister will do something that is transparent, it must be open. But what is on ground now does not represent that.

“That is why we are calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to address the issue and we said that for the oil and gas sector to grow as expected by all Nigerians, the government must declare a state of emergency.”

Johnson further highlighted the challenges confronting the industry to include crude oil theft and pipeline vandalisation, irregular Joint Venture Funding and non-payment of JV Cash Calls, poor state of the refineries and fuel subsidy claims.

He also identified bad state of access roads to operational locations (refineries, depots e.t.c), non-passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill  and divestment by International Oil Companies as other issues facing the sector.

He explained that the state of emergency should be an all inclusive stakeholders forum which would chart ways and evolve a framework for the industry as well as hold periodic meetings to evaluate and review the success and workability of the framework.

The PENGASSAN President noted that the forum would lay the bedrock for the resolution of challenges confronting this critical sector of the economy.

 

[Punch]