The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has expressed concern over the current drop in petroleum product output from the refineries, describing the development as unfortunate for the oil and gas industry.
It warned that the current development could fuel more hardship, especially to the downtrodden masses in the face of the dwindling price of oil on the international market.
The oil workers’ union claimed that the output from the refineries had dropped at an average of 16 per cent of their combined nameplate capacity of 445,000 barrels per day.
This development it stated is unfortunate and uncomfortable for the downstream oil and gas sector of the economy.
The union, in a statement issued by its President, Igwe Achese, expressed regret that the four refineries, which operated at 10 per cent installed capacity in June, despite the abundance of crude oil deposits in the land has now dropped to an average of 16 per cent combined capacity.
The union pointed out that with the era of government imposed austerity measures, the run on the foreign exchange to import fuel will have much impact on the economy, thus fuelling more hardship, especially to the down-trodden masses.
The oil workers union reiterated its earlier submission that a cabal is benefitting from the importation of fuel at the expense of Nigerian people, noting that the same cabal is working in unison to make the nation’s four refineries not to function, so that it can be sold to them as scraps.
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