PENGASSAN threatens strike over oil block sale

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria has threatened to shut down the oil and gas industry due to the divestment by oil companies in the industry without settling all labour issues. It accused ConocoPhillips management of not settling severance packages and sales bonus before the outright sale of its oil blocks in Nigeria. The oil workers also warned Oando Nigeria Plc, the prospective buyer of the oil blocks, not to conclude the acquisition process until ConocoPhillips fully settled the labour issues. The National Public Relations Officer of PENGASSAN, Mr. Seyi Gambo, in the statement, said the union was ready to use all mechanisms within the ambit of law to ensure that ConocoPhillips respected the extant labour laws and other international conventions regarding severance of employees. He added that the union was aware that ConocoPhillips would be completing the process of outright sales of its operations in Nigeria to Oando in the next one or two months. The union also claimed that all expatriates in the employment of ConocoPhillips in Nigeria had been settled and redeployed to the company’s operations in other countries, while the Nigeria nationals were neglected