Host communities in the Niger Delta region have threatened to ground Nigeria’s crude oil production over a prolonged dispute with Nigerian National Petroleum Company Exploration & Production Limited (NEPL) and its partners.
Tuduo Christopher, chairman of KEFFES Host Communities Development Trust, made this warning in a statement made available to Media Talk Africa on Wednesday.
He demanded immediate action over what he described as the nonchalant attitude of Pennington Production Limited and its security vessel contractors towards the host communities.
Accordingly, the host communities detailed a series of grievances stemming from NEPL’s handling of the security vessel contracts for the OML 86 and 88 operational fields in the Niger Delta region.
The host communities accused NEPL of negligence by granting contracts, traditionally considered “community service contracts,” to external contractors without prior consultation or approval.
“Please note that if this happens, this letter serves as official notice and may be used as evidence of your failure to resolve this issue amicably,” they warned.
Consequently, the host communities gave NEPL a seven-day ultimatum to convene an urgent meeting between the trust’s board of trustees and the new contractors.
“If the deadline is missed, they threaten to demand the evacuation of all contractors and vessels from the OML 86 and 88 operational fields within fourteen days — or risk a complete shutdown of operations,” they said.
The development comes as Nigeria targets 2.1 million barrels for 2025, according to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission. Recently, NUPRC said that the country’s crude oil output increased to 1.486 million barrels per day and has achieved 99 percent of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ target of 1.5 million barrels per day.
