Group Managing Director of Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Bashir Bayo Ojulari, has disclosed that Nigeria lost 200,000 barrels per day of crude oil to the recent strike embarked upon by the nation’s oil workers.

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) had last month directed its members to embark on strike in the wake of a face-off with the management of Dangote Refineries over the reported sack of 800 workers.

Reacting to the effect of the three-day strike on the oil industry, Ojulari stated that the industrial action had a telling effect on the production capacity of the NNPCL.

The GCEO, who spoke with newsmen after meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Lagos while describing the strike as unfortunate, stated that while the strike lasted, Nigeria lost 200,000 barrels per day of crude oil.

His words: “I think It was unfortunate that the Dangote and PENGASSAN issue led to strike and whenever there is strike and critical staff manning critical facilities are not available and optimum production is almost impossible.

“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 about 1.2 megawatts of power that was affected by that strike.”

He, however, expressed happiness that the crisis had been resolved through the timely intervention of the Federal Government via the Federal Ministry of Labour and the Office of the National Security Adviser.

According to him, “I’m very pleased that the Federal Government through the leadership of Minister of Labour and full support of the National Security Adviser was able to put together everyone into a dialogue and brought everybody to the table and now there has been a communiqué that has been agreed on the way forward.

“We are all very hopeful that everyone will abide by those communiqué. Since then, we have been able to return production back to status quo, there has been one or two areas that we are still trying to catch up with. Overall, we have gradually gone back to restore lost production and the deferment that we have as of today.”

Ojulari further stated that Nigeria has been able to step up crude oil production with effect from last month, saying 1.68 million barrels per day were produced in September 2025, while 7 billion cubic feet of gas was also produced per day during the same period.

“We are making good progress as you know we recorded 1.68mbpd of oil production last month which was very good. That was the first in about five years, in terms of milestone. We also recorded the highest gas production above 7 billion cubic feet per day which is also the highest in recent times.

“What we are also expecting is that with some turn around maintenance we have done in August and September and all of those are meant to come back this month, we are hoping that by the end of the year, we should at least be clocking 1.8mbpd,” Ojulari said.

He attributed the current hike in price of cooking gas to the artificial scarcity caused by the recent PENGASSAN strike but expressed hope that the price will stabilise before long with the resolution of the crisis.

“The increase you saw was relatively artificial because for the period of the strike, quiet movement and loading were delayed for about two to three days and because of that you see that impact and as things return to normal, it takes sometimes for distribution to fully return and you see with that delay some of the people that have existing resources in reserves had to put up the price.

“My expectations is that now that things are back to normal prices, it should return to what they were before the strike,” he said.

Asked the purpose of his visit to the President, Ojulari said it was a routine visit to update him about developments in the oil sector especially the task given them to attract investors.

“It is quiet an important opportunity to update the president on the progress in NNPCL particularly in terms of production performance, in terms of progress we are making in terms of attracting investment.

“As you recall, the president gave us a clear mandate which is to grow production to at least 2 million bpd by 2027 and up to 3 million bpd by 2030, as well as grow gas production as well.

“So where are we on that and how are we progressing this year and how are we preparing for next year in terms of ensuring we deliver this growth? So, that was one of my updates to the president,” he said. (THISDAY)