Host communities in the Niger Delta have issued an ultimatum to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Exploration & Production Limited (NEPL) and its partners, threatening to halt crude oil production due to ongoing disputes regarding contractual and operational issues.
Chairman of the KEFFES Host Communities Development Trust, Tuduo Christopher, voiced the communities' concerns, citing the perceived indifference of Pennington Production Limited and its security vessel contractors toward the welfare and interests of the host communities.
The grievances primarily revolve around NEPL’s handling of security vessel contracts related to Oil Mining Leases (OML) 86 and 88. They accused NEPL of sidelining local stakeholders by awarding contracts—traditionally recognized as community-based service contracts—to external entities without prior consultation or consent.
The host communities are demanding immediate corrective action, warning that failure to address these concerns may result in the suspension of oil production activities in the region.
“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”.
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”.
The development comes at a critical time as Nigeria aims to ramp up its crude oil production to 2.1 million barrels per day by 2025, according to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).