France’s Total has reduced the number of its employees in Nigeria because of the continued insecurity in parts of the country and is also looking to improve the security of its installations abroad in the wake of the attack on the In Amenas gas facility in Algeria.
Total’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Christophe de Margerie, told reporters in London on Thursday, “We are concerned about security in 2013 after what’s happened.”
In Nigeria, one of Total’s main production centres, de Margerie said the company had already taken “specific measures” to improve the security of its operations and staff.
He said Total had reduced the number of staff based at the capital, Abuja, because of the risk to personnel there.
He added that the company had moved non-essential foreign staff out of Nigeria.
Militants seized and killed a number of workers at the In Amenas facility last month, with some reports saying the attackers had help from inside the plant.
“This is a new element to the way we control operations,” de Margerie said.
He said Total had offered help to Algeria’s state-owned Sonatrach, BP and Norway’s Statoil, which operate In Amenas.
He added that all international oil and gas companies should improve their exchange of information around such issues.
“We should exchange all our understanding, our ideas, on how to control operations. Now is the time to cooperate — there should be no secrets,” he said.
De Margerie said he had already spoken to Chief Executive Officer, BP, Mr. Bob Dudley, on the need to share information among companies.
“We definitely agreed for Algeria, but it could be the same in other parts of the region, especially West Africa,” he said.