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No labour issues over IOCs’ divestment —PENGASSAN

CDA News February 1, 2025

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Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, has expressed excitement over seamless divestment of international oil companies, IOCs, without labour issues.

The umbrella body for senior employees in the Oil and Gas Sector said it is particularly happy with the indigenous investors takeover of divestments from the IOCs.

According to PENGASSAN, information from Seplat since it took over ExxonMobil Joint Venture, JV, last year among others is that some of the wells abandoned over the years, Seplat is putting technicalities and modalities in place to reactivate and put them into production.

President of PENGASSAN, Festus Osifo, told Vanguard in an exclusive interview that the wells would add to the overall national production, and will be positive for the economy.

He however lauded the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe, for the seamless divestments so far.

He said “When divestment started and the indigenous companies were coming in, there were some palpable fears in the industry. The fear mainly stemmed from the fact that these indigenous investors didn’t have the financial strength to carry out the major investments that we need in the oil and gas industry.

“For us in PENGASSAN, we were concerned about the funding of the industry. Principally, we were wondering if the indigenous investors could sustain the membership strength that we have today. And if they would be able to keep the numbers of staff that we have in the oil and gas in the respective companies? Also, we were worried if they would be able to pay the wages and salaries that the IOCs were paying. Would they declare redundancies immediately after the divestment? These were the thoughts that we had.

“But first, we wish to thank the Chief Executive of Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe, because we sat down with him, and told him our fears. We informed him that there would be disruptions in the industry, and a lot of industrial disputes if our fears were not taken into consideration.

To God be the glory, he came up with a framework, like a regulation that guides divestment. Out of the six pillars that NUPRC came up with; one was employee issues and discussion with the trade unions to reach an amicable solution.

Flowing from that, the divestment of former Nigeria Agip Oil Company to Oando Energy and process went seamlessly. As we speak, there is no single Nigerian that lost his or her job. The existing CBA, (Collective Bargaining Agreement), was rolled over. Nobody has left the job of Oando for about a year now since we completed that divestment conversation, and since they took over. We also had the divestment of Equinor Nigeria Energy Company, to Chappal Energies.

Today, the staff remain, and all our members remain. The same thing that we just concluded in the conversations around SEPLAT taking over the JV of ExxonMobil. As we talk today, there is no individual who has lost his or her job. The wages were even further enhanced instead of being reduced.

“For us, that is a major win. We are currently discussing the divestment of Shell Petroleum Development Corporation, SPDC, which is the joint venture, JV, arm of Shell companies in Nigeria, to Renaissance. And we are in the middle of the discussion. I can guarantee our members, I can guarantee Nigerians, that no single Nigerian will lose his or her job as a result of that divestment. This is because of the strong collaboration between the association and the regulators of the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry. But what we are now looking at is to ensure that these companies develop the industry and secure the necessary funding to be able to bring about development.

“We are quite happy that the news we are getting from Seplat since they took over from ExxonMobil late last year is that some of the wells that ExxonMobil has abandoned over the years, that Seplat is currently putting technicalities and modalities in place to be able to feed them in. Invariably, they are expanding the production of the reserves that ExxonMobil before now neglected. That will add to the overall national production, and that will be positive for the economy. And more so, it will also reassure us that the company will be a growing concern and that our members will continuously have jobs.”