Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) last week expressed concern over the drop in the refining capacity of both Warri and Port Harcourt refineries, decrying the output from the refineries which had dropped to an average of 16 percent of their combined nameplate capacity of 445,000 barrels per day.
NUPENG in a statement by its President, Mr. Igwe Achese, said this was an unfortunate and uncomfortable development for the downstream oil and gas sector of the economy.
Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) last week expressed concern over the drop in the refining capacity of both Warri and Port Harcourt refineries, decrying the output from the refineries which had dropped to an average of 16 percent of their combined nameplate capacity of 445,000 barrels per day.
NUPENG in a statement by its President, Mr. Igwe Achese, said this was an unfortunate and uncomfortable development for the downstream oil and gas sector of the economy.
The union expressed sadness that the four refineries in the country, operated at 10 per cent installed capacity in June, which it noted was a shame, despite the abundance of crude oil deposits in the land.
According to NUPENG, "in this era of government imposed austerity measures, the cost of foreign exchange to import fuel will tell much on the economy, thus imposing more hardship, especially on the down-trodden masses.
"We believe that a cabal is benefitting from the importation of fuel at the expense of our people and also working in unison to make the four nation's refineries not to work.
"This cabal is also lobbying the powers that be for the refineries to be sold to them as scraps. The Federal Government must ensure the turn-around-maintenance of the four nation's refineries and make sure that adequate supply of crude is sent in to reduce the importation of petroleum products."
"We deplores the current state of the refineries, as they are strategic, and for security reasons, must not be allowed to rot away and sold but increase their capacity utilization and establish new ones. We will not allow government to sell the refineries as scraps when they can be reactivated and reduce the current massive importation of petroleum."
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