The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has called on the federal government to increase its stake in Dangote Refinery to 45 per cent from the current seven per cent.

PENGASSAN president Festus Osifo made the call on Tuesday while presenting a communique and recommendations from the third edition of the ‘PENGASSAN Energy and Labour Summit’ in Lagos to journalists.

This, PENGASSAN said, is done to foster product availability to meet local demand and ensure energy assurance and security for the citizens. The union said the refineries should be modelled after the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) model, which appears to have been successful.

“Ramping up efforts to make the nation’s four refineries work; once operational, the government should divest majority shareholdings and own at most 49 per cent of the shareholding in the four refineries. Core investors will be brought in to take the 51 per cent as applicable in NLNG,” the PENGASSAN leader explained.

Bemoaning a situation whereby the inter-land petroleum depots in six geopolitical zones of the country are dilapidated, Osifo stressed the need for the government to get the depots fixed in collaboration with the private sector so as to ensure smooth distribution of petroleum products and enhance the national strategic reserve.

PENGASSAN also called for the expansion of pipelines that could be used in the delivery of refined petroleum products across the length and breadth of the country, as this would reduce the pressure put on the roads by trucks carrying the products.

The group also recommended digital intervention to curtail crude oil theft, re-engineer security architecture, and ensure ease of doing business by reducing bureaucracies or complex regulations that make the gas investment unattractive to investors.

Mr Osifo said those caught for crude oil theft should be punished severely by competent courts of jurisdiction to serve as a deterrent to others. He said participants were worried that three years after the passage of the PIA, the section of the act had not been implemented at all.

The act stipulated that three per cent of the operational revenue of the oil companies should be contributed to the host community fund. He also encouraged the government to create a business-friendly environment by incentivising more investors to tap into the nation’s abundant gas resources.

Upstream, it suggested an amendment of the PIA to include the divestment framework, noting that the previous divestments are not yielding results as the companies lack the financial capacity to sustain and expand the divested oil wells.

The group also urged the Nigerian energy sector to leverage artificial intelligence advancement to improve productivity and sustainability and tackle oil theft and smuggling.

(NAN)