100,000 oil workers lose jobs globally

21,000 casualties in Nigeria

THE effect of plummeting crude oil prices may have hit hard on the global economy, as the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) yesterday declared that about 100,000 people have lost their jobs to the situation. Meanwhile, industry sources told The Guardian that about 21,000 people working across the oil and gas value chain have already got their employment terminated in Nigeria.

According to the source, the industry has suffered major setback in the last few years due to the controversies trailing the nation’s oil and gas sector reforms particularly the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

This, he said was further worsen by the decline in crude oil prices at the international market. The Chief Executive Officer, Oando Plc, Wale Tinubu, who also commented on the job-loss, recently cautioned the oil companies on massive downsizing, noting that such actions might bounce back as they may resort to vandalising national assets.

Tinubu, who berated the increasing spate of oil theft in the country, said such activities are only carried out by specialists that have full knowledge of the industry.

Meanwhile, OPEC in its monthly report for March released yesterday said the industry is already counting the loss from the sliding oil prices, urging the member countries to cooperate to normalise the situation. “

The cartel was however worried that the giant oil firms might lose their competent engineers to the ‘retirement tsunami’ The report said: “Projects worth billions of dollars have been cancelled and much-needed investments for future capacity additions are put on hold.

Worst of all, Bloomberg, quoting figures by Swift Worldwide Resources, has reported that more than 100,000 energy workers have lost their jobs. Oil service companies, panicking over what the future might hold, have quickly retrenched.

And this at a time when the international oil sector is having to cope with the so-called ‘retirement tsunami’, where the industry already stands to lose many of its experienced personnel, especially engineers.

“We are often reminded that in today’s multilateral world, where continents, regions and countries are increasingly becoming interconnected, there is little room for unilateral action, especially in the vast and intricate world of commodity trading. Today, operating purely through self-interest is quite simply frowned upon.

As the old adage says, a problem shared, is a problem halved. “Yet, when it comes to the supply of petroleum, there is a stubborn willingness of some non-OPEC producers to adopt a go-it-alone attitude, with scant regard for the consequences. These parties consider producing to the maximum as being the norm.

To them, rationalizing the development of one’s precious natural resources in keeping with market demands appears to be an alien concept.” It stated. OPEC crude output has been stable over the last nine years.

Production has averaged 30 million barrels per day (bpd), with zero growth. Over the same period, non-OPEC production led by the US and Canada has surged by 6.3 million bpd. In 2014 alone, growth was measured at over 2m bpd compared with 2013.