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21 August, 2006
Nigeria’s two oil and gas workers’ unions, ICEM affiliates NUPENG and PENGASSAN, condemned the country’s privatisation of Eleme Petro Chemical Ltd. to a Thailand-based investment concern. At a joint news conference in Lagos on 10 August, the two unions called the sale of an olefins refinery at Port Harcourt to Indorama Petrochem Co. Ltd. lacking in transparency.
NUPENG and PENGASSAN made documents available proving that Nigeria’s privatisation arm, the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), had undersold the state’s 75% stake in the polyethylene and polypropylene refinery and that Indorama could not secure adequate financing for the privatisation deal. The unions said BPE gave the plant to Indorama after it paid only 30% of the US$250 million selling price. Also, the government still holds a US$300 million liability on the plant.
The unions charged that Indorama has no proven track record in petrochemicals. Indorama, based in Bangkok, is a three-year old company that is owned by Indorama International Finance Co. Ltd. of the UK.
The two oil workers’ unions, cooperating effectively under the aegis of NUPENGASSAN again, “condemns in its entirety, the whole transaction, as this action is capable of jeopardizing the future of our members and is not in the interests of Nigerians and the economy.” The statement added that state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. had “the technical know-how and competence to run and manage” the petrochemical operations.