The chief executive of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mr Bashir Bayo Ojulari, has disclosed that the nationwide strike embarked upon by some oil workers recently cost Nigeria over 200,000 barrels per day of crude oil.
He made the disclosure after meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Monday, adding that it also affected gas production and electricity generation.
“In this particular case, we actually lost significant production of over 200,000 bpd that was deferred; we also have gas production that was deferred; we also have power generation that was impacted,” Mr Ojulari told journalists at the state house.
A rough calculation shows that at an average price of $66 per barrel, it means Nigeria lost about $39.6 million (N57.4 billion) worth of crude oil for the three days the strike lasted.
The strike called by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), a union of senior oil workers in the oil industry, to protest the sack of its members by Dangote refinery.
It was suspended last Wednesday following the federal government’s intervention.
Despite the halt to the strike, Nigerians are feeling the ripple effect with surge recorded in the prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), known as cooking gas, currently selling at double the former retail price due to scarcity of the cooking fuel.
The affected crude production will also impact the country’s quota for the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which has averaged 1.5 million barrels per day recently.