LAGOS – The Petroleum and Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN), has called on the Federal Government, to develop a model to strengthen the country’s oil and gas value chain to ensure a sustainable cost reductions and near- and long-term profitability as well as more efficient and reliable distribution system in the downstream sector.
The Oil and gas workers association also called on oil and gas companies to ensure cost cutting, vertical integration, new revenue models, consolidation, and new equipment and service models, adding that without such a system, the country would continue to face recurring fuel shortages as its reliance on truck-based distribution system is deficient and inadequate to meet the demands of Nigerians due to bad roads, flooding and-logistic arrangements.
Comrade Festus Osifo, President of PENGASSAN, made the declarations at a world press conference from the presentation of the Association’s communiqué and recommendations from the 3rd edition of PENGASSAN’s Energy and Labour Summit (PEARLS 2024) communiqué jointly signed by Osifo and Secretary-General, Comrade Lumumba Okugbawa held recently at Transcorp Hotel, Abuja
Osifo, who emphasised that operators in the oil and gas industry are now rediscovering the spirit of efficiency as a result of previous recommendations from PENGASSAN’s Energy and Labour Summit, restated the need for the Federal Government to provide CNG infrastructure across the country, noting that “Compressed Natural Gas,CNG, has been adjudged to be the most affordable and cleaner form of energy that is required, to propel a car in the country today.
”Sadly, the infrastructure for this product is sparsely distributed across the country. The government through its partners, should deepen the reach of these infrastructure across every city in Nigeria”
The PENGASSAN’s President, while urging the Federal Government to increase its shareholding stake in Dangote Refinery from the current 7per cent to 45 per cent, noted that the trust will ensure further energy assurance and security for citizens.
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He also urged the Federal Government to create strategic petroleum products reserves, stressing also that government should partner with players in the private sector to maintain the already available petroleum product storage in the six geo-political zones in the country.
“When operational, petroleum products will be stored there and only made available when there is shortage in supply. This will help in eliminating the bad roads and severe erosion-imposed perennial shortages that often lead to queues at petrol stations across the country”
On the floating of the naira leading to its devaluation, the PENGASSAN President noted that it also contributed substantially to high cost of fuel pump price because of the dollar to naira conversion and not the removal of fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu on May 29, 2023.
He also noted that the dollar to naira conversion caused high amount of revenue to the Federation Allocations Accounts Committee and high revenue generations by government agencies and parastatals.
“ Ramping up efforts to make the nation’s four refineries work: once operational, the government should divest majority shareholdings and own at least 49 percent shareholding in the four refineries. Core investors will be brought in to take the 51 per cent as applicable in NLNG.
“Expansion of pipelines that could be used in the delivery of refined petroleum products across the length and breadth of the country as this will reduce the pressures put on our roads by trucks carrying these products”, he said.
