Seplat Energy Starts Operations, Resolves Issues With Indigenous Contractors

Seplat Energy said in a release that it has resolved its issues with some community indigenes working as contractors’ personnel and that normal operations have resumed.

This was accomplished, according to the statement, through stakeholder engagement and collaboration with the government.

Seplat stated that on Friday, May 19, 2023, at 0600 hours, some community indigenes working as contractors’ personnel invaded Seplat facilities in Amukpe and Sapele West.

This invasion caused a disruption in production and, as a result, a brief halt in business operations, including a declaration of force majeure to affected customers.

“At Seplat Energy, our contractor personnel are encouraged to make their grievances known (if any) through their managing contractors or designated Seplat officials, or otherwise leverage established third-party mediation channels.

“We are actively looking into why these individuals opted for a disruptive action without recourse to established procedures and with no concern or regard for public safety and national interest (our Seplat West facilities supply about 37 percent of the gas used for power generation in the country),”the release read in part.

Seplat said its stakeholder engagement continues as it established through a meeting with the contractors’ personnel, security agencies, and Okpe Host Communities Forum leaders, that the disruption was due to the individuals’ demands for salary increments and automatic conversion to regular staff.

“The contractors managing these individuals have been notified of their actions, and we understand that plans were underway to implement a salary increment for their personnel before the incident occurred.

“We must emphasize that during the invasion of our facilities, we ensured the safety and security of our staff which is always our primary priority. All of our production staff are safe, and no injury or harm was recorded,” the statement read.

Seplat Energy said it will continuously strive to ensure best practices in the management of personnel provided to the company by third-party service providers, including regular engagements on their grievances. “These service providers will continue to engage their personnel and amicably address the concerns raised by them.

“We would like to appreciate the support from our community leaders and the government security agencies in working together with Seplat Energy to efficiently manage the situation, prevent any HSE incident and promptly restore normal operations.

“As part of our continuous improvement initiatives, we are maintaining an open line of communication with all concerned parties, and in the coming weeks, we will complete a post-mortem and extract critical lessons learned to strengthen our operations and prevent any recurrence,” the company said.