By Ayomide Otitoju
The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Bayo Ojulari, has expressed optimism that Nigeria’s crude oil production will reach 1.8 million barrels per day before the end of 2025.
Ojulari disclosed this while briefing the President in Lagos on the company’s activities since his appointment on April 2. He said recent turnaround maintenance operations carried out in August and September were beginning to yield positive results.
“With some of the turnaround maintenance that we have done in August and September, all of those are meant to come back this month,” Ojulari stated. “We are hoping that before the end of the year, we should be clocking at least 1.8 million barrels per day.”
The NNPCL chief also addressed the recent nationwide strike by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), which was triggered by the alleged dismissal of over 800 Nigerian workers by the Dangote Refinery.
PENGASSAN had on September 26 directed its members to embark on a nationwide strike to protest the action. The industrial action was suspended five days later after the Federal Government intervened and the Dangote Group agreed to redeploy the affected workers.
Ojulari lamented the impact of the strike on the nation’s oil output, describing the losses incurred during the short disruption as “significant.”
“It was quite unfortunate that the Dangote and PENGASSAN issue led to the strike. As you know, whenever critical staff manning key facilities are not available, it is almost impossible to continue operations,” he said.
“In this particular case, we actually lost over 200,000 barrels per day of production that was deferred. We also had gas production that was deferred, and power generation was also impacted — about 1.2 megawatts of power was affected by that strike,” he added.
The Federal Government, through the Office of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, intervened on September 30, facilitating a meeting between the warring parties that led to the suspension of the strike.
Ojulari commended the intervention, describing it as a timely step to safeguard the economy.
“I am very pleased that the Federal Government, through the leadership of the Minister of Labour and the full support of the National Security Adviser, was able to bring everyone to the table,” he said. “We are hopeful that all parties will adhere to the communique, and we have gradually restored most of the lost production and deferments.”
