According to Bayo Ojulari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Nigeria lost 200,000 barrels of crude oil every day as a result of the recent strike by the country’s oil workers. Over 600,000 barrels were lost during the three-day supply disruption.
Following a confrontation with Dangote Refineries’ management over the alleged dismissal of 800 employees, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) last month ordered its members to go on strike.
Ojulari responded to the impact of the three-day strike on the oil industry by saying that the NNPC’s production capacity was significantly impacted by the industrial action.
After meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Lagos, the GCEO told reporters that Nigeria had recently reached a 7 billion cubic foot (BCF) gas supply and called the strike action regrettable.
“I believe it was regrettable that the Dangote and PENGASSAN dispute resulted in a strike. When there is a strike and essential personnel are not available, vital facilities are not manned, and maximum production is nearly impossible.” In this instance, we actually lost a substantial amount of production—more than 200,000 barrels per day—due to deferral.
“In addition, we have gas production that was postponed and power generation that was affected by that strike by roughly 1.2 megawatts,” he stated.
However, he was pleased that the federal government’s prompt action through the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) and Federal Ministry of Labor had ended the crisis.
Ojulari went on: “I’m really happy that the federal government was able to bring everyone together for a dialogue and bring them to the table. With the help of the National Security Adviser and the leadership of the Minister of Labor, there has been a communiqué that has been agreed upon regarding the next steps.
We all sincerely hope that everyone would follow the communication. Since then, we have been able to resume production as usual, albeit there are still a few places where we need to catch up. All things considered, we have progressively reverted to our current level of delay and lost production,” he continued.
According to Ojulari, Nigeria has been able to increase its crude oil output since last month. In September 2025, 1.68 million barrels of crude oil were produced daily, and during the same time period, 7 billion cubic feet of gas were generated daily.
“We’re moving forward nicely. As you are aware, we produced 1.68 million barrels per day of oil last month, which was excellent. In around five years, that was the first. Regarding achievements, we also achieved the highest gas output in recent history, surpassing 7 billion cubic feet per day.
In addition, the NNPC CEO said, “We hope that by the end of the year we should at least be clocking 1.8mbpd with some Turnaround Maintenance we have done in August and September and all of those are meant to come back this month.”
He said that the recent PENGASSAN strike created an artificial shortage, which is why cooking gas prices are currently rising. However, he expressed optimism that the price will soon stabilize as the crisis is resolved.
“The increase you observed was comparatively artificial because, during the strike, loading and movement were delayed for two to three days. As a result, you observe that there is an impact, and it occasionally takes for distribution to fully resume. As a result of this delay, some individuals who already had resources in reserves had to pay a price.”
“I anticipate that now that prices are normal, they should revert to their pre-strike levels,” Ojulari continued.
When asked why he was visiting the president, Ojulari explained that it was a standard visit to inform him of the oil industry’s progress, particularly the assignment he was given to draw in investors.
“This is a very significant chance to inform the president on NNPC’s success, especially with regard to production performance and our efforts to draw in investment.
As you may remember, the President gave us a clear directive to increase gas output and production to at least 2 million barrels per day by 2027 and up to 3 million barrels per day by 2030. In order to guarantee that we achieve this increase, how are we doing this year and how are we getting ready for next year? The engineer wrote, “So, that was one of my updates to the President.”
As light lines resumed after the PENGASSAN and Dangote incidents, the NNPC has once again increased the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also referred to as gasoline, at its retail locations.
According to information obtained, NNPC stations in Abuja, particularly those in Wuse Zone 6 and Zone 4, have raised their pump prices from N890 to N905 per litre. This represents an increase of N15, or about 1.7%.
Abubakar Maigandi, president of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), blamed the most recent price increase on supply problems brought on by the PENGASSAN and Dangote Refinery dispute.
It is because of the inconvenience caused by PENGASSAN’s strike, he stated. But according to the IPMAN chief, “our members are still selling between N885 and N895 per litre.”
