Fresh Crisis Looms As Oil Workers Threaten Strike.

There are strong indications that a fresh round of fuel scarcity may soon hit the country as oil workers operating in the downstream and upstream sectors of the oil and gas industry last week threatened a nationwide strike following the retrenchment of their members by oil companies.

There are strong indications that a fresh round of fuel scarcity may soon hit the country as oil workers operating in the downstream and upstream sectors of the oil and gas industry last week threatened a nationwide strike following the retrenchment of their members by oil companies.
The oil workers under the aegis of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) warned that should government fail to intervene in the issue of retrenchment of its members proposed by oil companies, members will not lift any petroleum products.
Even though he explained to Shipping Position Weekly under anonymity that the associations are presently in dialogue with government on the issue, a top member of one of the associations said that letters have been written and forwarded to all its branches as well as all the oil majors with regards to the planned strike.
This fresh threat is coming on the heels of a statement that was sent to the associations by the major operators of the downstream sector about their plans to lay-off 50 percent of their workforce.
In a letter that was signed by Tesh Onwuka, head of human resources of MRS Oil and Gas which was issued early this month, the company informed the unions that latest developments and challenges in the sector have been affecting its operations negatively.
A copy of the letter which was sighted by our correspondent reads in part:  “as you are aware that the margins in the downstream business are controlled and we have been experiencing the downward trend of these margins as a result of product gluts and sometimes scarcity”. “Aside these, we also have high overhead cost, all these challenges have adversely impacted on our business with the resultant effect of low profitability”.
According to the letter, “preliminary analyses conducted showed that for the business to continue as a going concern employee head count has to be reduced by 50 percent. In view of the foregoing therefore, management will like to solicit the union’s support and understanding in this regard” she said.
In addition to this, the National Secretary of the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) Mr. Emmanuel Gowon also confirmed to Shipping Position Weekly last week that the demands that led to the two days warning strike action which was embarked on by the association in conjunction with the PTD branch of NUPENG three weeks ago is yet to be met.
Gowon told our correspondent that the association which recently merged up with NUPENG is still in dialogue with the government and that their demands are yet to be met.
He said “we just called off the strike action, there has been no agreement yet and we are still in discussion with the government, we are however confident that they will cooperate because if they don’t, the effect will be enormous and the heat will be felt by everyone in the society, we will totally withdraw all our trucks from lifting products”, he warned.
The group had suspended lifting of petroleum products for two days following the sudden hike in the price of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), popularly known as diesel in both domestic and international market.
 According to investigations carried out by our correspondent last week, one litre of diesel, which was sold at between N105 and N110 in November and early December 2010 is now being sold at between N130 and N135 per liter at filling stations across the country.