The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mr. Bayo Ojulari, has expressed confidence that the nation’s crude oil production will rise to 1.8 million barrels per day before the end of the year.

Ojulari gave the assurance on Sunday after visiting President Bola Tinubu in Lagos.

He said his visit was to brief the President on the company’s operations and progress since his appointment on 2 April.

“With some of the turnaround maintenance we carried out in August and September, all of those facilities are expected to come back on stream this month.
We are hoping that before the year ends, production should reach at least 1.8 million barrels per day,” he said.

Ojulari also addressed the recent industrial action involving the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the Dangote Refinery, which disrupted operations across the oil and gas sector.

The dispute stemmed from allegations that the refinery had dismissed over 800 Nigerian workers and replaced them with foreign staff.

In response, PENGASSAN directed its members nationwide to embark on an indefinite strike on 26 September. The strike was suspended five days later after the Dangote Group agreed to reinstate the affected workers, following the intervention of the Federal Government.

Reflecting on the incident, the NNPCL boss lamented the losses recorded during the industrial action, describing them as “significant”.

“It was quite unfortunate that the Dangote and PENGASSAN issue led to a strike. Whenever critical personnel are unavailable at essential facilities, production inevitably suffers,” he said.
“In this case, we lost over 200,000 barrels per day in deferred production. Gas output was also affected, and power generation dropped by about 1.2 megawatts during that period.”

Ojulari commended the Federal Government’s timely mediation through the Office of the National Security Adviser, led by Nuhu Ribadu, which facilitated dialogue between the refinery and the union.

“I’m very pleased that the Federal Government, through the Minister of Labour and with the full support of the National Security Adviser, was able to bring everyone to the table for dialogue,” he said.
“We are hopeful that all parties will adhere to the communique reached. While a few areas are still being addressed, we have largely restored the production losses and are returning operations to normal levels.”

Ojulari reiterated NNPCL’s commitment to stabilising oil output and ensuring energy security as part of its contribution to national economic growth.